Hey, hey everyone - welcome to the end of the week/month/dry January or whatever other personal markers you're putting down to signify another part of this year's journey around the sun...

Today we're focussing on Esteem and how to max this out!

Now when we say Esteem, we're talking about 'Respect, Status, Recognition, Strength and overall Self-esteem' - some juicy subjects that's for sure and all so important in terms of us living our happiest possible life. If your own sense of self-Esteem is down in the gutter then change has to come...

Let's cut to the chase - how do you feel about where you are right now in measuring your Esteem and happiness at this level? How would you rate yourself out of 10 for each of the above areas?

Tricky to measure hey...as often the above points are by-products of success in lower parts of the Maslow pyramid which present themselves when the core fundamentals of life are fully cooking on gas!

For instance, let's take Respect...if we move beyond 'mafia dons' and street gangs, Respect is a great marker in terms of how you're living your life in the community, in family, in your career, or just someone that people look up to. How can you achieve greater Respect? Put the hours in to help people, give up your time and engage with people more and you'll find Respect starts to flow more and more. It doesn't need to be any more complicated!

Don't also forget about your own self-Respect - quite probably the most important part, i.e are you living life to values that you truly uphold and making decisions that compound that?

Status and Recognition begins to build on top of Respect.

Status I feel is all about people trusting you to take the lead in some area of life, or through your hard work in getting there. Reached a certain level of management through your leadership skills or won a trophy for your athletic endeavors? Both Status and Recognition are ways of showing that you are a lynchpin of trust, value, and someone with who people feel safe with in plotting a course to achieve great things together.

Strength and Self-esteem - wow, that really is cherry on the top of the cake stuff - and you won't find that inner strength or self-esteem if you have either:

1. Self-doubts

2. Negative people in your life...

I've been interviewing a number of entrepreneurs recently for our Subkit Go Solo podcasts (plug alert) and the modern world lends itself to imposter syndrome - holding so many people back from either starting something new or improving their lives. People who are incredibly successful and amazing at what they do are still feeling like they're hanging on for dear life...that needs to change...

Where has this lack of confidence, inner-strength and low self-esteem come from? I'm gonna be lazy and call out social media as a possible cause and the 'always-on' FOMO culture in terms of us comparing ourselves to other people and not really being able to have a break from the 24/7 life. For every 'successful' person you see on Insta or the like, you're just seeing a snapshot of one part of their life, maybe they also have hangups?

The struggle is real in terms of trying to find some kind of tranquility, and if you're personally not feeling fully in the flow state when you're living your life then you know what, don't overcomplicate things. Feel empowered by conviction to run your own race and don't care what other people think. When you start working on your own Strength and self-Esteem then Respect, Status and Recognition will follow.

Excuse the totally round the houses randomness of this weeks post but I love this topic. It affects things at the bottom of the Maslow pyramid and also up above 👋

Think of level 4 as like Yin/Yang. With each part totally reliant on each other in a symbiotic fashion...

Start working on improving core parts of your life (physiological, biological, safety, love, belonging) and the Respect, Status and Recognition will flow to you - this will then lead to greater inner Strength (belief) and Self-esteem.

Work on your own Strength (belief) and Self-esteem, and then Respect, Status and Recognition will flow to you in return.

As the old saying goes, "Fuck the Haters" - breathe, and do what works for you!

Esteem is so important in life - don't let anyone bring you down and do what works for you!

Thanks guys - big love to you all ✌️

Coming Up Next Week

Next week, I'm excited to say we're talking all things Self actualisation - how to become the person you were born to be.

I'll leave it there but I'm already excited about writing next week's post 🙌