The Result of Self-Worth is Self-Esteem
Posted on February 01, 2020 by Chris Wagnor, One of Thousands of Health and Fitness Coaches on Noomii.
The idea of self-worth (self-value) will often be followed by a more prominent focus on self-esteem (how we feel about ourselves)
If you’ve ever wanted to improve how you feel about yourself (or help someone else improve how they feel about themselves), you might have been advised to focus first on self-esteem. This is incapable of being beneficial in the long term.
Self-worth comes first; self esteem comes second. Although developing our self-esteem is important, self-esteem (how you feel) without self-worth (self-value) is like an eggshell without a dead chicken inside of it or a shiny new BMW with its engine missing.
So what is the difference between self-esteem and self-worth?
The best way to explain this is by thinking of an external and internal self. Self-esteem relates to they way we feel about ourselves externally, i.e. the way we look, feel, act and the way that others perceive us.
Self-worth, on the other hand, focuses more on an internal sense of self (and a given state of authenticity). Self-worth refers to our feelings of importance, our sense of belonging, our degree value to others and security in our core identity. Self-worth involves finding meaning in your life and a sense of ownership or purpose.
Another difference between self-esteem and self-worth is that self-esteem often bases itself upon materialistic drive or ambition, where self-worth carries intangible traits that need to be harnessed and cultivated through the development of maturity in character.
As we may be starting to recognize, there’s a massive difference between self-esteem and self-worth. If you are taking appropriate steps in your life to feel better and improve yourself, all of the self-help articles in the world won’t enable you to build your self-esteem.
Where self-esteem bases itself more upon how you feel about yourself in relation to others, self-worth bases itself upon how it is that you appear to you.
Think of your commitment to ongoing self-improvement and improvement (through studying courses like this) as a commitment towards developing your intrinsic self-worth. Like the construction of a house where your foundation and frame are your self-worth, and the finishes and furnishings are your self-esteem.
Once you’ve eventually built this dream house (metaphorically speaking)… do you merely want to impress other people with it, or do you want to be able to comfortably live inside of it with confidence for the rest of your life?
FYI: Here are another few common ‘self’ related concepts to be aware of.
Self-efficacy: Self-efficacy is a belief in one’s capacity to succeed at tasks. General Self-efficacy is a belief in one’s general ability to handle tasks. Specific self-efficacy refers to beliefs about one’s ability to perform specific tasks (e.g., driving, public speaking, studying, etc.)
Self-confidence: Self-confidence refers to belief in one’s personal worth and the likelihood of succeeding. Self-confidence is a combination of self-esteem and general self-efficacy.
Self-concept: Self-concept is the nature and organization of beliefs about one’s self. Self-concept is theorized to be multi-dimensional. For example, people have separate beliefs about physical, emotional, social, etc. aspects of themselves.
Questions for Self-Reflection:
1) Everyone has different ways of realizing pleasing and displeasing traits of themselves. How have you formed your sense of self?
2) If you’ve had a “light bulb” moment about your sense of self, are you able to identify the self-awareness, self-concept, and self-esteem factors? And if so, how?
