What is self-confidence? I will tell you what it is: it is the little glass window through which you may look and see the real manpower within your body. Self-confidence is self-discovery—finding out who you are and what you can do. It is the banishment of fear. It is the acquirement of mental courage. It is the turning on of the light of human intelligence through the use of common sense.
If you possess self-confidence, many things naturally work in your favor. Believing in yourself and your ability to succeed at whatever you put your mind to is a priceless asset that cannot be purchased at any cost. Knowing that you have an innate ‘can-do’ attitude prevents you from accepting failure as either part of your genetic makeup or your destiny.
With self-confidence, you will accomplish more BECAUSE YOU WILL DARE TO UNDERTAKE MORE! You will realize, possibly for the first time in your life, that you possess the ability to accomplish anything that YOU WISH TO ACCOMPLISH! You will realize how little your success in any undertaking will depend upon others and how much it will depend upon YOU!
Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string. Accept the place the divine providence has for you, the society of your contemporaries, the connection of events. Great men have always done so, and confided themselves childlike to the genius of their age, betraying their perception that the absolutely trustworthy was seated at their heart, working through their hands, predominating in all their being. And we are now men, and must accept in the highest mind the same transcendent destiny; and not minors and invalids in a protected corner, not cowards fleeing before a revolution, but guides, redeemers, and benefactors, obeying the Almighty effort, and advancing on Chaos and the Dark.
The great curse of the age is FEAR or LACK OF SELF-CONFIDENCE! With this evil removed… you will see yourself rapidly transforming into a person of STRENGTH and INITIATIVE! You will see yourself breaking the ranks of that great mass which we call FOLLOWERS, in which you have been floating, and moving up into the front row of that select few which we call LEADERS! LEADERSHIP ONLY COMES THROUGH SUPREME BELIEF IN SELF, AND YOU NOW KNOW HOW TO DEVELOP THAT BELIEF!
Source: Napoleon Hill’s Self-Confidence Formula