Trust yourself, your intuition, and your nature. According to Emerson's Self-Reliance, these qualities are essential for contentment and harmony with oneself. Self-confidence is a call to the individual to obey their instincts and challenge tradition and conventional wisdom. According to Emerson, those who are truly self-sufficient have the ability to mark their place in history as great and genuinely creative men. Emerson urges the reader to live by one's instincts and listen to one's intuition: "Trust thyself: every heart quivers that iron string." Don't fear your original thoughts, trust them and live accordingly. Great men and artists fascinate us with their creative nature: "In every work of genius we recognize our rejected thoughts." If we do not live according to our nature we are not men. Be bold and courageous about your beliefs: "And we are men now, and must accept in the highest mind the same transcendent destiny; and not cornered, not cowards fleeing before a revolution, but redeemers and benefactors, pious aspirants to be noble plastic of clay under the effort of the Almighty, we advance and advance in Chaos and Darkness.” Recognize your nature, whether good or evil: "No law can be sacred to me but that of my nature." Emerson instructs the reader to avoid the common pitfalls that tend to hinder man's virtue. Emerson identifies coherence as the enemy of the creative thinker, “A foolish coherence is the goblin of small minds,” “With coherence a great soul has simply nothing to do.” Emerson is not implying that we live unevenly, but that we should be introspective about our positions and ideals. We should not maintain the same position simply because it is the one we have always taken. We shouldn't worry about the impression we leave on others: "What I have to do is all about me, not what people think." According to Emerson our inconsistency should be our testimony. Your inconsistent actions will explain to others what you are: "The voyage of the best ship is a zigzag line of a hundred turns." Emerson also highlights man's fear of being misunderstood. We often fail to present or discuss our original thoughts and ideas for fear of being misunderstood. Emerson asks, so what? Haven't all great innovators been misunderstood? Emerson says: "Misunderstood! It's a right, foolish word. It's so bad then to be misunderstood?"?