Did you know that, statistically, two out of three people have a low self esteem? That means that when ever you are with people, and you look at the person either side of you, only one of you has a healthy self esteem. Only you know if that person is you! Self esteem doesn’t necessarily show on the outside, but it does affect the way you live your life, your relationships, your work and your success.
Jack Canfield illustrates the effect of self esteem by relating the ‘Poker Chip Theory’ Imagine you and your friend go to the casino on evening. Your friend has 100 poker chips to play with and you have only 10. You go to the first game and find out that to play you need to risk 2 poker chips. It’s a risk, because of the chance that you might lose those 2 chips. However there is also the chance that you might win more chips. Your friend puts down 2 chips, but you hesitate. Why?
You have less chips that your friend, and if you lose, you will only have 8 chips left. For your friend, however, it is not really such a big deal to lose, as there will still be 98 chips left to play with. Your friend’s stack of chips is not so affected by one loss.
Now imagine that each poker chip is one ‘I feel good about myself’ self esteem chip. Each time a person has to make a decision, or do something difficult, or step outside of their comfort zone, it is a risk. The risk is the chance that the decision will be wrong, or unpopular, the risk of possible failure, or disapproval from others. For a person with high self esteem, the risk of losing a little self esteem is not as critical as it is for the person with a low self esteem. Typically a person with a low self esteem avoids making decisions,andis less willing to take risks. People will cover up low self esteem with a variety of behaviours, but the effect of that poor self esteem pervades their life.
What are you doing, on a daily basis, to build your self esteem? Even people with a healthy level of self esteem still need to build that self esteem every day , to replenish the day to day losses that inevitably occur.
This site is designed to be a resource for you to build your self esteem. You will find articles, tips and techniques, which if applied will help you to build your self esteem on a daily basis.
Do stay and look around. Feel free to add your own comments and suggestions - they may be just what some else needs to hear to encourage and help them on their way.