Self-esteem & Success
Self-esteem
&
by Shweta Roy
56
SPRING 2017
I
Self-esteem & Success
believe self-esteem is highly correlated with
success. The opinions and beliefs we carry
about ourselves impact us in many ways.
Higher self-esteem leads to high performance,
optimism, and consistency in every situation. In
my opinion, it empowers us to fight against de-
pression and stress and helps us get ahead in
life.
Success
between narcissism and self-esteem is that the
former leads to a lack of empathy, and often at-
tention-seeking behavior, while the later speaks
to a basic sense of confidence. There is no harm
in having high self-esteem. It’s not unhealthy to
value yourself and feel confident; it simply al-
lows you to approach obstacles with your head
held high.
I will take you on a small journey with me. I have We should always try to avoid negative self-talk,
been teaching (volunteering) classes in Micro- which is a big sign of low self-esteem. Negative
soft suite for a Non-profit
self-talk leads to depression. I
Organization in Houston for
like this quote from a website
almost a year. I signed up for
named thebusinesswomanme-
only a six-month teaching
dia.com: ‘Instead of saying this
session because I was quite
is difficult, say this is not easy
skeptical about my teaching
yet’.
skills. As the months passed,
I gained confidence slowly,
One of the biggest benefits of
but I still wasn’t sure my stu-
self-esteem is that it leads to
dents were satisfied with my
better performance. If you have
teaching. Four months into
high self-esteem and encoun-
The more you
my first teaching session,
ter an unfamiliar or difficult
know
how
to
one of my students came
situation, you think of positive
up and said she wanted to
strategies to move forward and
respect yourself,
talk to my boss about the
conquer the challenge. Low
the more confident
computer classes. Later I
self-esteem is a drain on time
you become in life.
discovered that she person-
and emotional energy – instead
ally requested that I stay
of solving problems, you’re
for another six months. I
stuck convincing yourself you
am not sure how to explain
can’t do anything in the first
it, but it was a big achieve-
place. The more you believe in
ment for me. Hearing such
yourself, the better you can ap-
positive feedback helped me
proach difficult moments with
boost my self-worth, and af-
healthy coping strategies.
terwards my performance
excelled even more. Finding
Self-esteem is often about
success in teaching definitely
self-acceptance. With higher
helped me to set new goals and work towards self-esteem, you’ll be able step back and be
them in a consistent way. I am now looking for- proud of your achievements, improve yourself
ward to more teaching internships and proba- whenever possible, and accept your flaws. No
bly a career in this field. Self-esteem helps you one is completely perfect in this world; after all,
muster up enough courage and motivation to ‘to err is human”. It’s okay to make mistakes
follow your passions. It stops you from bullying sometimes; you can still stand up and make it
yourself and encourages you to take more risks. right. Self-esteem also extends to your social
life: it reduces your fear of rejection and helps
Many people might confuse high self-esteem you become less anxious and insecure around
with narcissism, but the two qualities are dis- people. You know you have achieved success
tinct. Narcissism is an extreme self-love, an when you have faith in yourself. No dream be-
egotistic sense of admiration. The difference comes too big for you
SPRING 2017 57