Self-Esteem: What is the Self-Concept?

We need a healthy self-concept and a positive self-esteem.  However, all of us have areas of our lives we could improve.

Your self-concept is what you believe about yourself.  It’s your image of who you are.  It’s your feelings and thoughts about your strengths and weaknesses.  Your self-concept is your thoughts and feelings about your abilities and limitations.  It takes in account your physical, mental, and emotional makeup.  Self-concept includes your personality and your social self.

Self-concept is your thinking, daydreaming, studying, creating, listening, responding, and speaking from your self-perspective.  It is your own impression, opinion, attitude, and description regarding yourself.

Or is it?  We often see our selves in the reflection of others, a mirroring of the judgments of those around us. This is called reflected appraisal.  Reflected appraisal refers to how we develop an image of ourselves from the way people respond to us and from the way we think others view us.  We need to be careful about who we hang out with.

I don’t know exactly who said it first.  You are the composition, combination, or compilation, of the books you read and the people with whom you spend time.

We have hundreds of self-concepts.  Red light – things we think we are not good at.  Yellow light – things we are cautious about doing.  Green light – things we believe we are good at.  Give yourself the green light to learn new skills and build new relationships.  You are probably much more talented than you think you are.

If you need to find a keynote speaker, plenary speaker, breakout speaker, concurrent session speaker, seminar leader, or workshop facilitator who can deliver in-person, virtually, or via prerecorded session, Kit Welchlin, M.A., CSP, CVP, is a nationally recognized professional motivational speaker and author and can be found at www.welchlin.com or www.SeminarsOnStress.com.