Introduction

Self-esteem is a personal journey to understanding yourself and the value you bring to the world. We are delighted to have this amazing and humbling opportunity to guide you on this dynamic path of self-discovery. As a teacher and a coach of self-esteem building, we have combined our unique styles and experiences to bring you an engaging, life-changing, interactive reading experience to help you improve your self-esteem.

From the beginning, it has been our intention and commitment to meet you where you are. If you’re struggling with the past, we help you conquer it. If you’re greatly accomplished but recent circumstances have shaken you to your core, we help you rebuild. If you’re a parent, leader, teacher, mentor, or friend who desires to help others build their self-esteem, we also have you covered.

Self-Esteem For Dummies is comprehensive, covering everything from where low self-esteem comes from to how to build and sustain self-esteem throughout your life journey. Because “self-esteem,” “self-worth,” “self-regard,” “self-respect,” and “self-assuredness” are similar in meaning, you’ll notice that we use these terms interchangeably. What’s most important is what you get: We want you to feel good about being you!

We’ve also included guided visualization exercises in various chapters. These exercises help you to envision yourself doing fabulous things before you do them. Seeing yourself succeed before you’re in the situation helps to improve your performance because you already know that success is achievable.

We are grateful that you’ve given us this opportunity to take a deep dive with you into your most treasured personal space. There isn’t an ounce of doubt in our minds that by reading Self-Esteem For Dummies, you’ll discover what you’ve always known deep inside — you’re magnificently brilliant!

About This Book

Everything you want and will ever dream of is locked behind the door of your self-esteem. Since the beginning of time, human beings have struggled with understanding, affirming, and owning their personal power. Despite the many technological, social, and political advances, there is still buzz about our continuous struggle to know and experience ourselves fully.

This isn’t just a book; it’s a process. It’s designed to guide you to and through the door to your self-esteem. We help you through this process, step by step:

1. We help you understand what self-esteem is and how it impacts your life.
2. We show you how to pinpoint where you are.
3. We give you the tools to overcome mistruths that are holding you down and back.
4. We support you as you set goals and start feeling good about achieving greater success because of your increased self-esteem.
5. We assist you in quickly recognizing and dealing with internal barriers that challenge you when you least expect it.
6. We help you to better understand and stabilize your personal and professional relationships.
7. We know you want to share your good fortune of increased self-esteem with others, so we show you how to spread the love.

The great thing about this book is that we share stories that remind you that you’re not alone. We also include exercises that have helped others get unstuck and moving in the right direction.

Foolish Assumptions

Before writing each chapter, we had you on our minds. Brilliant one, here are the assumptions we made about what you really know:

• Feeling funky is no longer fun. You’re tired of feeling less than and you’re ready to own your power.
• Change comes with choice. You’ve made the decision that it’s no longer an option to remain as you are in your current condition.
• Nothing separates us. Your struggles aren’t any different from ours and our students’ and clients’ — we understand where you are, and because we’ve developed the tools to combat those “crazy” moments, we can guide you to where you want to be.
• Success doesn’t determine self-esteem. You live and work with people who’ve achieved success, but whose treatment of others makes it evident that they don’t feel good about themselves. Because you have to endure them, you want to learn how to deal with them.
• Real power is empowering others. You understand as a leader, teacher, mentor, and friend that nothing is more powerful than helping others see and own their power.

Icons Used in This Book

To make this book engaging, interactive, and easy to use, we created the following icons to guide you from start to finish.

This bull’s-eye highlights important words of advice to increase your self-esteem.

This icon is used to emphasize a crucial point to keep in mind.

The text next to this icon cautions you to take special care of yourself concerning the topic under discussion.

Here we share stories that provide a foundation for teaching, inspiring, and helping you to better understand the lesson in the text. These anecdotes aren’t meant to directly represent any particular situation or client.

This icon is used for exercises. Exercises are used to help you work through the principle we’re teaching so you can see where you are and how to apply it to your life and daily interactions with others.

This icon is used for guided visualizations that help you create body/mind alignment and assist you in experiencing what we’re teaching you at a deeper level.

Beyond the Book

As if all the great information in this book weren’t enough, you can go beyond the book for even more! Check out www.dummies.com/cheatsheet/selfesteem for a quiz to help you assess your level of self-esteem, plus info on how to identify and stop negative self-talk, how to become better friends with yourself, and more.

You can also check out some free bonus articles at www.dummies.com/extras/selfesteem and listen to guided audio visualizations at www.dummies.com/go/selfesteem.

Where to Go From Here

We want you to enjoy the reading and learning experience that Self-Esteem For Dummies provides and share what you liked and learned with all those you know and love who will benefit from its teachings. Keep it as a reference guide and remain engaged in your self-development by joining S. Renee (www.thereismoreinsideyou.com) and Vivian Harte (www.self-esteem-course.com) at any of our free online webinars and teleseminars.