Self-Esteem: What Does Personality Have to Do with It?

Many of my clients are staying connected to staff, customers, or members, by hiring me to deliver virtual presentations.

I provide high-impact and high-content virtual presentations through Engagez, GoToMeeting, GoToWebinar, Google Meet, Hopin, Loom, Meetview, Microsoft Teams, StreamYard, Webex, and Zoom.

There is a relationship between self-concept, self-esteem, biology, and personality.  Researchers estimate that we inherit about 40% of our personality traits.  Research suggests that our temperament at age 3 is highly predictive of how we will behave or conduct ourselves as adults.

If your parents or grandparents were shy, you may have a genetic tendency to be reserved in certain situations.  Studies suggest up to 40% of Americans report being currently troubled by shyness.  This excessive caution and self-consciousness can create a challenge developing and maintaining friendships and effective work relationships.  If that is the case, here are some remedies:  Accept yourself as you are and challenge yourself to not worry about things that might happen.  Monitor your thoughts and avoid catastrophizing the worst.  Learn physical and psychological strategies to relax.

Now, if your parents or grandparents demonstrated aggressive personality characteristics, you might have a natural tendency to more emotionally expressive.  If that is the case, you may also find it a challenge developing and maintaining friendships and effective work relationships.  I suggest, reading some books and attending a few seminars on listening, perception checking, perspective taking, emotional intelligence, assertiveness, and conflict resolution.

Even though you may have a disposition toward some personality traits, you can do a great deal to control how you actually communicate.  People that are somewhat shy can learn skills that will help in reaching out to others.  People that are somewhat aggressive can learn skills to communicate in more sociable ways.

Personality does have an impact on self-concept and self-esteem, however, through self-awareness and diligent effort, we can modify our communication behaviors and enjoy fulfilling personal and professional relationships.

If your organization could benefit from learning a variety of communication strategies and approaches that will improve work relationships, contact me at kit@welchlin.com and I will deliver a presentation that will help.

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.