I see fear as an indicator that I am about to have an awesome breakthrough, so I move forward.

Not all fear points forward. Some of it points at a hot stove and it is entirely right.

But there's a particular flavour that only ever turns up near things you want — the application, the first date, the sentence you'd have to say out loud. It arrives precisely because the thing matters, and it never bothers with anything you're indifferent to.

Learn the difference and you've got a rough compass. Indifference is silent. Growth hums.

Nobody is nervous about a task they've done four hundred times. Nerves are a fairly reliable sign that you've walked to the edge of what you already know how to do.