There is self-confidence about what the self can “do” versus self-confidence about what the self “is” and one’s inherent right to be a legitimate sovereign member of the universe. Is it safe to say that the latter causes more trouble than the former?

We would agree with this assessment in general, that few have a deep awareness of who they are, what they are a part of, their purpose, their origin and makeup, and their destiny. Indeed, all they may be left with is the meager doings and experience as a physical human starting as an infant with no capability whatsoever, being a helpless lump of tissue with little onboard knowledge, an inability to perceive what is going on in the environment, unable to move, unable to communicate with others, and in a state of bewilderment and confusion about the sensory bombardment they begin to experience with birth. This is not an encouraging beginning to make good progress and to get very far given a relative short life span of the average human being who spends roughly a quarter of their life actually in school, or even longer, simply acquiring knowledge, and that will bring with it a relatively minor amount of actual skill. Most skills per se are acquired in the so-called real world of the workplace once one completes their book learning and takes on actual duties and responsibilities for carrying out useful duties and demonstrating a suitable level of proficiency and accomplishment. All along the way, everything is a function of trial and error with a great need to memorize lots of factual information. That is quite a challenge and quite a feat, and often a misguided notion to begin with as most factual learning will not be relevant to the person’s life in a career sense or in any other way. So it demonstrates a certain proficiency to read and acquire information, to listen and incorporate teachings through careful focus, attention, and note-taking, and the ability to study and reinforce the learning through repetition, and so on. Those are useful life skills but not the be-all and end-all. In contrast, who one is is a much deeper representation because in an ultimate sense it takes into consideration the soul characteristics incorporated and expressed during the incarnation by the individual. The soul is vast, has many resources at its disposal, and a huge experience base. This can be tapped into if there is an awareness it is possible and one goes about it in the right way. So again, we are back to the question of initiative, application of curiosity, and an inner drive to learn, and perhaps more than the minimum requirements of formal education, given that the world is largely ignorant of some of the most important information about how the universe truly works and the makeup of the divine human, and possible interactions with the divine realm to form a partnership for enhancing one’s life. So here we are getting into the answers for the dilemma a bit, but it addresses the issue of your question because the makeup of the divine human is more about who the individual is than what they do within the earth plane and you can see this amply demonstrated, that the average person spends a great deal of their time sitting in classrooms year after year after year and eventually reaching the workforce starting out doing a mundane job, largely repetitious, consisting of drudgery, and a great deal of boredom for which they will be underpaid in terms of the amount of time it takes from their life day after day and often much additional time in commuting, doing extra learning, working long hours that might not be fully compensated for but considered the mark of a good worker. But if you look carefully at those who are successful and what differentiates them from others who may not succeed in a career through lack of talent, diligence, willingness to give of themselves, and even sacrifice at times in demonstrating a good work ethic, what differentiates those workers who become prized business associates and colleagues are demonstrating aspects of character and potential in living through and demonstrating a grasp of the virtues that lead to good outcomes and a rewarding accomplishment that will benefit the individual as well as the group they may be a part of. Those are more of a reflection of soul characteristics than learned behavior from simply watching others and mimicking their behavior and conduct. So we would say, "Who one is is vastly more important than what one does." If the former is highly expressed and prized in governing thoughts, feelings, and actions, what one does will automatically be of a higher caliber and more effective and make a greater impact on things for the better.