“Part of me suspects that I’m a loser, and the other part of me thinks I’m God Almighty.” John Lennon.  Your self-esteem is probably the most important part of your personality. It precedes and predicts your performance in almost everything you do. It is the energy source or the reactor core of your personality, and how much self-esteem you have determines your levels of vitality, enthusiasm and personal magnetism.

High self-esteem is something we, Americans, all want. To be sure, a similar obsession with self-esteem is rarely, if ever, found in other civilized countries, whose languages often do not even possess an adequate equivalent of the term.

Mike had become a wealthy entrepreneur, but he had a hard time enjoying his business success because it seemed that every minute he wasn’t solving a business problem he was worried about what others thought of him and what he could do to get their approval. Janet probably had as many good ideas as Mike, but because she was plagued with procrastination, she was nowhere near as successful. Stories like these from our clients go on forever. We’ve heard tens of thousands of them. It seems as if no one really escapes having a low sense of self-esteem, a negative sense of oneself, a little voice in one’s head that is constantly critical of oneself.

Briefly, self-esteem is about how you relate to yourself. Do you like, respect, trust, and believe in yourself? When you like yourself, you can live comfortably with both your personal strengths and weaknesses without undue self-criticism.

Self-confidence goes hand in hand with winning, with self-esteem, with the success and happiness in everything you do. The more self-confidence you have, the more things you’ll try and, by the law of averages, the more things you’re likely to achieve.

Remember You Are Special - This isn´t just some hokey line, it´s the truth. Each of us brings something special and unique to this world. Let your whole life, not just your job, determine how you feel about yourself. Believe in your ability to accomplish what you desire and beat back that anxiety and panicky feeling that threatens to undermine your happiness.

The voices in our heads can be real buzz-kills. “I’m not whatever enough.” I should be (doing) X, I should be (doing) Y, I should be (doing) Z. Some call this voice “the gremlin” or saboteur. Others look at it is as a radio station that plays recurring tunes of self-limiting beliefs embedded into our subconscious minds.

Many talented and creative people report feeling incompetent, inadequate and having low self esteem at times. But there are ways to shift those feelings and build self confidence.

Self-centered, vain, conceited, egocentric - these are some of the variations on the idea of being narcissistic. We need a healthy degree of positive self-regard, of course, but when it becomes distorted, it is considered narcissism.

We tend to be attracted to confident, bold, defiant people in the world of art. Many times audacity can go further than even talent. The talented artist, writer, or musician who does not show belief and confidence can flounder, when someone less talented but with assertive belief can flourish. Being convinced in the merit of our work is an attractive energy that sells and magnetizes attention as much for the product as for the belief itself.