What often distinguishes fulfilled from unfulfilled lives is an ingredient that's not part of the educational curriculum,
and that can sound vague, silly, and Californian in the bad sense.
Confidence
It's humbling to realize just how many great achievements haven't been the result of superior talent or technical know-how,
merely that strange buoyancy of the soul that we call confidence.
Why is confidence so easy to lack?
Partly, it's a hangover from the past.
For thousands of years, for most of us, there simply were no opportunities for hope:
we were serfs and slaves,
and the central psychological survival skill was to keep our heads down and our expectations low.
