Mr. Achievement – Stanley F. Bronstein – Personal Development BlogPersonal Development Blog of the Founder of the Achievement IQ Movement and Creator of the Laws of Positioning

This chart comes from the Wikipedia Article on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, which can be found by clicking here.

Maslow’s Hierarchy – The Need For Esteem – Revisited

To establish true self-esteem we must concentrate on our successes and forget about the failures and the negatives in our lives. (Denis Waitley)

Some Definitions First

Establish – To found, institute, build, or bring into being on a firm or stable basis.    To show to be valid or true; prove.  To cause to be accepted or recognized.

True – Being in accordance with the actual state or conditions.  Real; genuine; authentic.  Sincere; not deceitful.  Being or reflecting the essential or genuine character of something.

Self-Esteem – A favorable impression of oneself.  Self-respect.

Concentrate – To direct toward one point.  To bring or draw to a common center or point of union.  To bring all efforts, faculties, activities, etc., to bear on one thing or activity.

Success – The favorable or prosperous termination of attempts or endeavors.

Forget – To cease or fail to remember.  To omit.  To leave behind.  To fail to think of.

Failure – An act or instance of failing or proving unsuccessful.  A lack of success.

Negative – Lacking positive attributes.  Characterized by the absence of distinguishing or marked qualities or features.  Lacking in constructiveness, helpfulness, optimism, cooperativeness, or the like.

My Favorite Subjects

Today, we’re going to talk about some of my favorite subjects.

• Self-esteem;
• Confidence;
• Achievement; and
• Respect

Once Again, These Are All Two Way Streets

• You have to have esteem for yourself BEFORE others will have esteem for you.
• You have to have confidence in yourself BEFORE others will have confidence in you.
• You have to have a burning desire to achieve BEFORE others are going to be willing to help you do so.
• And most importantly of all, you have to have respect for yourself BEFORE others will respect you.

Unconditional Esteem For Yourself

Just like with self-love, true self-esteem is unconditional. That’s not always a very easy thing to do though. Instead, it is all too easy for us to get down on ourselves.

Any time we have a bad day, we risk lowering our sense of self-worth.

How do we overcome that?

It’s by developing a sense of self-worth that is so strong, we’re not going to let anything knock it down.

We have to tell ourselves that no matter what happens; no matter what we face; we are capable of handling it.

Where Do We Learn This?

Frequently, a sense of self-worth is developed in our childhoods.  If we fortunate enough to grow up in a good environment with supporting parents (who also believe in themselves), you’re going to be ahead of the game.

For example, when I was growing up the people around me ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS, told me that I could accomplish whatever it is that I wanted.

Unfortunately, not everybody is as lucky as I have been.

A Perfect Example

One example of the difference parents can make is included in my first book:  Achievement IQ: Find Purpose In Your LIFE & Achieve Massive Success.

One Saturday morning, several years ago, I was visiting a friend at his workplace.  One of my friend’s fellow workers brought his ten-year-old son with him to work.  When I was introduced to my friend’s co-worker, the co-worker then introduced is son as his “little idiot.”

I was EXTREMELY upset when I heard this.  I did not say anything to the worker as I did not feel it was any of my business, but I felt like saying something such as, “I’m sure you don’t really mean that, as your son appears to be very smart to me.”

The sad part is that our brains (especially when we are young) frequently believe what others tell us about ourselves.

This father was unconsciously programming his son to believe that he was an idiot.

How’s that for shattering the self-confidence and esteem of your child?

So What’s My Point?

My point is that if we had a little bit more esteem for ourselves, we will have more esteem for others.  Then we could all move up Maslow’s ladder and really start to put it all together..

That certainly could not be a bad thing.

Conclusion

As I mentioned a little earlier in this post, I believe most human beings are constantly working, simultaneously, to fulfill their needs on multiple levels of the pyramid.

Here’s the catch:

The higher up the pyramid you want to get, the more important the lower levels are to your success or failure.

That’s why I think Maslow was a genius when he came up with the pyramid concept. Not only did he get his points across verbally, but he also got them across visually.

His pyramid says it all.

Some Recommended Reading

Laws of Positioning #13 – Position Yourself To Be Confident

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