The development of a positive self-concept, or healthy self-esteem, plays a major role in life success and happiness.
Self-esteem is quite simply how we feel about ourselves and our behavior clearly reflects those feelings. The way we talk about ourselves is very important in everything we do. What we think determines how we feel and how we feel determines how we behave.
A strong positive self-concept allows individuals to open themselves to new opportunities and challenges both personally and professionally. People who lack self-esteem are less willing to move from their safety zone and so miss opportunities in life, love, and success.
We can often place the blame for low self-esteem on people in our past such as our parents, teachers, or other important people. However once we reach adulthood, we need to take responsibility for our own self-concept.
In many ways self-esteem is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Those with a positive self-image will constantly reinforce that image with new successes while those with a negative self-image will find new failures to reinforce that image. If your self-esteem needs bolstering then you must find ways to bolster...