Personal Development | Self Esteem | Illumination

8 Powerful Universal Laws for Improved Self Esteem

Not the Same-Old Same-Old Self Esteem Advice

Good self-esteem is a good thing to have. (Thank you Capt. Obvious!)

The problem is this whole self-esteem thing is greatly misunderstood.

In an effort to clear things up, and maybe even help a few folks, here are a few “Universal Laws” for self-esteem.

The Law of Stuart Smalley

Genuinely strong self-eteem has nothing to do with the old Stuart Smalley character on “Saturday Night Live.” Smalley was played by then talk-show host Al Franken who looked in the mirror to tell himself

“You’re good enough, you’re smart enough, and doggone it, people like you.”

This is not the kind of namby-pamby-feel-good self-esteem we’re talking about here.

This is not your grandmother’s self esteem.

The Law of Definition

Self-esteem is one of those frequently used terms that we believe we know the meaning of until we are asked to define it. Most folks define it as the way you feel about yourself. The problem is feelings can, and often do, change.

The definition I have found most useful of self-esteem is: the strength and power of your belief in your self.

The Law of Ends vs. Means

While working on increasing your self-esteem, remember it’s just a means to an end, not the end in and of itself.

I’ve known lots of unsuccessful people, and even people who continually do the wrong thing, and yet they feel good about themselves.

Self-esteem is merely a means to the end of increasing the quality of life, for yourself and those around you.

The Law of Company

Self-esteem is strongly influenced by the company you keep.

Hang around people with weak self-esteem and yours is likely to be weak as well.

And guess what? Hang around people with strong self-esteem, and yours is likely to strengthen as well.

If you have kids, then you care about who they hang around, right? Because we know who we hang around influences us.

At what age does that stop.

18?

21?

30?

50?

The correct answer is: NEVER!

The Law of Blame and Accuse

I’ve heard so many people say:

“My self-esteem is low because I’m too this/that, I grew up without this/that and this/that has happened to me.”

Which usually leads me to wonder what does a person who is too this/that, grew up without this/that, and has had this/that happen to them, do with the rest of his or her life?

The Law of Action

You can learn about self-esteem, read about it, go to seminars, etc., and nothing will change if you don’t do something with what you learn.

In order to change something, you simply must TAKE ACTION!

The law of NWBG

While NWBG may sound like the name of a rock group or boy band, it’s really a fast and easy way to measure and improve your self-esteem.

In vertical order, write the letters NWBG, which stand for Now-Worst-Best-Goal.

N W B G

Now, on a scale of 1 to 10 (1 is the worst and 10 is the best) rate your self-esteem the way it is Now, the Worst it has ever been, the Best it has ever been, and the Goal you would like it to be.

N-Now W-Worst B-Best G-Goal

This gives you a number next to each of the letters NWBG. If you are like most folks, Now is higher than the Worst.

This gives us some important information:

How did you get from the worst to where you are now?

The answers can be key for further strengthening your self-esteem.

The Law of Higher Math

Now we will do a little higher math in order to strengthen your self-esteem.

Take the number for your Goal (let’s say 10) and subtract from it the number for now (let’s say 4), so where I went to school, it’s 6.

So that’s six levels of self-esteem to travel, which is too big a chunk all at once.

EX:

Now-4

Worst-2

Best-6

Goal-10

Let’s make it manageable by taking one level at a time.

What small, simple steps can you begin to take immediately to move you from a four to a five?

And then a 5 to a 6, a 6 to a 7, and so on.

In this way you can measure your progress as you go, and rather quickly strengthen your self-esteem.

How’s that for progress?

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