No Self Esteem? You’re Better than Most!

Should everyone have ‘self esteem?’ Indeed, what the hell is ‘self esteem?’

We would all like to have self confidence – the belief in oneself and our abilities, but the term ‘self esteem’ is actually a corruption of this.

The term sprang up in the late 1960’s when psychologist Nathaniel Brandon produced a paper called ‘The Psychology of Self Esteem’ and it was enthusiastically adopted by the education system in the US.

But ‘self esteem’ has been proven to be ineffectual. After 15,000 or more studies on the topic, it was shown not to improve grades, reduce anti-social behaviours and other claimed benefits.

Indeed the opposite happened – many people who were told they were geniuses by their parents, teachers and peers, simply got lazy and did not achieve the miracles claimed.

That is not to say human beings are full of potential – we most certainly are. However for people to achieve their potential, they must

1) believe in themselves and

2) take action to actually achieve it.