compliments of
FutureVisionsSM
creating sustainable results in growth and performance
Global (overall) self-esteem
is strongly correlated with happiness and positive mood.
Academic self-esteem is more closely related to school marks; whilst
they both influence each other, the effect of self-esteem on marks
is greater than the reverse.
Global self-esteem
(but not academic self-esteem) correlates with well-being in many
studies. In Western cultures, satisfaction with self also has a higher
correlation with overall satisfaction than any of the other areas examined
(such as income, job satisfaction, leisure, religion and health).
Self-esteem, in
Western cultures, is also highly correlated with "control
expectations" (or mastery). "Perceived constraints" have the
opposite effect. People with good
"control expectations" tend to be
optimists. Not only do they imagine a rosy future,
they remember their successes much better
than they recall their failures. They dwell on the pleasant. They
skip over, although they don’t ignore, their shortcomings.
They believe that any difficulties or setbacks are temporary,
specific to just that experience, and not their own fault. They
believe they are in control of their lives. The happiest people
believe this whether or not it is true. In other words, the most
effective way to increase both self-esteem and happiness is to ‘act
as if’ you are in control. Researchers found that those who believe
that they are in charge of their destiny are happier, healthier and
more productive than any other group of people.
Yet their lives are not really any different from those who do
not feel in control. Even for those working in the same kinds of
jobs, the ones who saw it as a positive experience and felt in
control of their lives had 28% more life satisfaction, according to
one study.
Return
to Free Stuff List
Return to
Self-Esteem list
