Self Esteem Equation

I read this interesting thing the other day. It is one of those things that explains a lot of things. Then you keep finding it in several books. I am talking about William James’s Self Esteem Equation.

“With no attempt there can be no failure and with no failure no humiliation. So our self-esteem in this world depends entirely on what we back ourselves to be and do. It is determined by the ratio of our actualities to our supposed potentialities. ” — Excerpt From: Alain De Botton. “Status Anxiety”.

Hence, Self-esteem = Success/Pretentions or

Self-esteem = Success at something/Expectations from something

It is quite funny how much this is true. I often use this as a part of my mental tool-kit to keep me sane. The social media is very potent in raising expectations from anything while success only depends on trying it. Hence, everything posted online seems easy to do. While the struggle gets real when one tries to do it.

Cheers!