Former boxer Muhammad Ali has charmed the world with his swaggering self-confidence. But he is quick to admit that he wasn't always so sure of himself. In the book The Entertainers by Timothy White, Ali recalls a particularly humbling moment from his teen years. He had a crush on a girl named Areatha Swint. Seventeen-year-old Ali sometimes walked Areatha home from school. One day, as they reached the top stair of her apartment house, Ali worked up the courage to turn around and kiss her. And then he promptly fainted. When he came to at the bottom of the steps, Ali was so upset that he ran all the way home. (1)

The champ was K.O.'d by his fear of kissing a girl. That's a surprising story to hear about the boxer who claimed to be invincible. But we all have experiences like that from our pa…