In life, we can make things easier for ourselves or we can make them harder. In fact it seems like this is a perennial truth, we have influence over the course of our lives whether we exercise this influence to our benefit or detriment. 

Of all the things we can do to make our path easier, one of the most potent is to develop and practice good self-confidence. Conversely, of course having poor self confidence is obviously going to be a brake on any progress we want to make.