Self-esteem

Supporting Gaby

 

I’m not sure if you’re aware of what has been happening with Gaby Douglass this past week following an extraordinary Olympic performance. She won the women’s all around gold, becoming the first African American woman ever to do so, and was the driving force behind the American woman’s gymnastic teams' first team gold since 1996, second team gold all time. Yet, despite these great achievements there were people who focused on how bad her hair looked? Apparently some people are not able to celebrate or even imagine someone else’s success because somehow this presents a threat to their ego. Why would that be?

Reasonable Expectations for Success

 

As I stated last week, how you define success for yourself is going to directly influence how successful you feel. This feeling comes down to taking the focus off the result itself, and honing in on the actions you are taking toward the result you desire. What goals you set for yourself are essential for maintaining that focus, perseverance, and most importantly, your self-confidence. In doing this it is important to create reasonable criterion for success for whatever you are looking to improve on.

Healthy Competition with Yourself

 

Competition is good: it leads us to raise the bar and set higher standards for ourself that impel us to improve. This can be a great boon to one’s success, and is the driving philosophy behind Capitalism. The problem is that this competition can seep into our personal relationships, lead us to challenge our partner at times when support is needed, create demands that can sap the vitality of a relationship when people start keeping score, and even end up draining energy from our own well-being. 

Pages