It is the finals of the international tournament.

The world’s eyes are on you.

You are not the favourite to win.

The odds are stacked against you.

You have your backs stood at wall.

You are coaching such a team.

What do you tell them?

“We talked about what pressure is,” revealed Rassie Erasmus, who has turned his team’s fortunes around since taking over two years ago.

“In South Africa pressure is not having a job. Pressure is one of your close relatives being murdered,”

“There are a lot of problems in South Africa – which are real pressure. Rugby shouldn’t be something that creates pressure, rugby should be something that creates hope.”

“We’ve got the privilege of giving people hope,” 

“Hope is when you play well and people watch on Saturday at a nice barbeque and feel good after, no matter your political differences, or your religious differences.

“The moment you see it that way, it becomes a hell of a privilege – and that’s how we tackled this whole World Cup campaign.”

After those words, South Africa Rugby team [The Bokke] went into the International Stadium Yokohama to win the Rugby World Cup against England.

It is amazing what happens when you redefine your situation from pressure to hope.

When you redefine failure to lessons learned.

When you redefine half-empty to half-full.

When you redefine problems to challenges.

When you redefine a no to a not-yet.

When you redefine alleviating poverty to creating prosperity.

When you redefine minimising costs to maximising revenue.

The story we tell ourselves shapes how we approach situations and ultimately who we become.

You are the story you tell yourself.