“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself” – FDR

Fear is the real enemy because it leads to paralysis. The key or next steps are there, but you might be too paralyzed to see it.

“Courage is the willingness to act in spite of fear.” Courage, actually acting, is something in your control, something that you can choose.

Courage gives you the ability to put aside your fear of failure and take the first steps. When you start something new, you can only draw on courage – that’s really all you have.

Confidence is an outcome of your courage. Everyone starts off not knowing (and having some level of fear/anxiety) and then taking the courage to start. The reward is confidence. You tried, you failed and learned, you practiced, you honed your skill. Confidence comes with time and familiarity with [whatever it is].

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Courage is more important than confidence.
We spend a lot of time seeking more confidence. We wait to feel confident before we take action. This is a mistake, because we will never feel confident until we try and succeed. Or fail and try again before we get it right. If we wait for confidence to begin, we might end up waiting for a long time, or forever.