Raising the Bar

As I watch my self-esteem rise after a year of ego-humbling, I wonder about this elusive feeling. When I observe people who get what they want in business, it appears their simply knowing they deserve it attracts success to them. High self-esteem, then, appears to be a magnet.

That said, how do you raise the bar of personal self-worth to attract professional success?

The mythologist in me would say to focus on the “new story,” to chart all the times it appeared your life rather than fall back into the “woundology,” as Caroline Myss calls it, of low self worth.  From there, you could identify the behaviors of high self-esteem, practice them, and “fake it ‘til you make it.”

The psychics would tell me to be aware of every time I fell back into that old story and stop and consciously choose a different feeling that not only raised my vibration but also, coincidentally, made me feel better.  

The intellectual in me says if our lives really are constructs, that is, constructed by us, we can deconstruct and reconstruct stronger and more empowering stories. We can spin the tale differently and in that act, change the outcome.

I like this. I like the game it invites me to play: to enliven a new story with wit and awareness and cunning and fool the old story into submission.

Your Story: Make a list of three people you know with high self-esteem and their attitudes, beliefs and behaviors. Then, think about when, in your life, you exhibited those traits. Carry that list around with you and when you feel yourself slipping into the old story, stop, read the list and “fake it ‘til you make it.”