If we keep practicing, we gain fluency; basic skills are mastered, allowing us to take on newer and more exciting challenges. - Robert Greene

Confidence is important, but if it is not based on a realistic appraisal of who you are, it is mere grandiosity and smugness.

The truth is that creative activity is one that involves the entire self - our emotions, our levels of energy, our characters, and our minds.

Unlike animals, with their instincts to guide them past dangers, we humans have to rely upon our conscious decisions. We do the best we can when it comes to our career path and handling the inevitable setbacks in life. But in the back of our minds we can sense an overall lack of direction, as we are pulled this way and that way by our moods and by the opinions of others. How did we end up in this job, in this place? Such drifting can lead to dead ends. The way to avoid such a fate is to develop a sense of purpose, discovering our calling in life and using such knowledge to guide us in our decisions. We come to know ourselves more deeply—our tastes and inclinations. We trust ourselves, knowing which battles and detours to avoid. Even our moments of doubt, even our failures have a purpose—to toughen us up. With such energy and direction, our actions have unstoppable force.