The Self-Esteem Goose Chase

There are any number of people involved in psychology who think that high self-esteem is essential for being a good person. If that had been the case, then there wouldn't have been good people before the advent of therapy; and of course there have been good people at all times in human history.

I say this as someone who can be neither accused of having too high a self-esteem or too low a self-esteem. My score on the self-esteem test was moderate. With this background it becomes possible to make an assessment of the value of the concept. And so far what I see with self-esteem is a goose chase. There will always be someone out there to tear down whatever self-esteem you struggle to obtain. It simply is not worth the effort.

What is worth the effort? Making the most of one's life. The more this is done, the more the reasons for having a self-esteem. Self-esteem should not be pursued; it should come as a logical consequence of constructive activity. Put the horse before the cart.

As we look around the world, we aren't seeing much priority placed on self-esteem in many competing civilizations. The Chinese don't bother with self-esteem; they bother with hard work and aim to come to leadership of the world through their superior work ethic. The Muslims don't bother with self-esteem either; they bother with jihadism and want to kill us all. Self-esteem is not going to change, or fend off, either. Making the most of one's activity will.

Less needs to be done to coerce self-esteem and more to encourage constructive activity. Achievement creates true self-esteem. Stop demanding that people esteem themselves and demand that they contribute. Self-esteem will logically follow the more this is done.