Climbing to achievement

Are we anointed or do we promote ourselves to pinnacles of being and achievement?  Most of my life I've waited around for someone to tell me I was able and good enough.  Now I wonder of those who do, achieve because they anoint them self with the desire to achieve.  For example, there are thousands of good football receivers.  There is one Jerry Rice.  Did Jerry Rice become a great receiver because he wanted to be great, or because a coach told him he could be great. 

If I want to be a great painter, I need to paint.  I need to learn about color.  I need to study the world around me and how the forms and colors flow.  The same if I want to be a singer, chef, gardener, or detective.  I need to look deep within myself.  I need to face down my fear of failure.  I need to feel the surge of creative power. I need to just go for it and believe in myself.

If I have the desire, the results will follow.  That is what I have come to believe.