Self-esteem

	Self-esteem is the emotion or feeling a person has with 
	regard to his/her self-worth which is composed of his/her
	self-competence and self-respect.  It is the limiting 
	factor on a person’s performance.  Simply said, a person’s 
	performance will not exceed his/her Self-esteem.  This is 
	evident from Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs in that 
	Self-esteem needs must be fulfilled before the need for 
	Self-Actualization (performance) can be addressed.  

	Self-esteem can be thought of as multiplication of a 
	person’s self-competence and his/her self-respect.  When 
	a person’s self-competence is a 10 and his/her self-
	respect is a 10, then his/her self-esteem equals 100.  But 
	when self-competence is a 3 and self-respect is a 3, then 
	self-esteem only equals 9 which is less than 10% of full 
	potential and so performance and productivity is less 
	than 10% of his/her potential.  Even though a person’s 
	self-competence and self-respect may both be 8, his or her
	resulting Self-esteem would be 64, or less than two thirds 
	of full potential.  One means of measuring your Self-esteem
	is the the Self-esteem Quotient.

	A person’s Self-esteem is not static, but fluctuates depend- 
	ing on a his/her behavior and how the results of that be-
	havior influence perceptions about self competence and  
	self respect.  Similarly, a person’s Self-esteem is not 
	constant throughout all areas of  life, but varies with his 
	or her beliefs of self competence/respect in each area.  
	In some cases, very high Self-esteem in one specific area 
	may “spillover” or generate an increased belief in 
	competence in a closely related area.

	A person’s Self-esteem is an indication of the size of 
	his/her “comfort zone” or the range of activities in which 
	the person feels comfortable or believes he/she is com-  
	petent to do.  Consequently, the larger a person’s comfort 
	zone or Self-esteem, then fewer activities, environments 
	or situations will produce stress or discomfort.  Those 
	activities outside a person’s comfort zone are considered 
	“threats” or things to be feared and doing an activity 
	outside a person’s comfort zone means taking a risk.

	There are more than a dozen specific ways a person can 
	build Self-esteem.  Everyone of them increases compe-
	tence, self-respect or both.  One of the most common ways 
	people raise their Self-esteem is to expand their comfort 
	zone by taking a risk and being successful in doing so.
	
	The greater the successful risk taken, the greater the 
	increase in a person’s Self-esteem.  Unsuccessful risk 
	taking decreases a person’s Self-esteem.  Avoiding taking 
	risks erodes a person’s Self-esteem.  One way to consis-
	tently and predictably raise Self-esteem and performance 
	is to constantly take risks that are small enough that 
	success is highly probable every time.

	As a service to you and your journey to higher Self-esteem 
	and Self-Actualization, this site offers you a different way 
	each month to increase your Self-esteem.

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