Page 56 - 100 Ways to Motivate Yourself

Dr. Branden’s book, The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem, is unlike any other

psychology book on the market, because in addition to its eloquently written
philosophy on how to build inner strength, it also contains a full year’s worth of
practical, powerful, user-friendly exercises to raise your own consciousness and
self-esteem. His sentence-completion exercises are so effective and exciting that
if you do them, I can say without a trace of exaggeration, you can get tens of
thousands of dollars worth of personal growth therapy for the price of a single
book.

Before you assume that Branden’s notion of self-esteem is the same as that
being bandied about by New Age educators, you must read his work and listen
to his audio. Most people today think others can bestow self-esteem on us. Such
misguided thinking leads to phenomena such as classes without grades and work
without standards for excellence. Perhaps you have heard about that Little

League group in Pennsylvania that wanted to eliminate keeping score from
baseball games because of the damage that losing does to children’s self-esteem.
When we confuse pampering and coddling with instilling self-esteem, we really
encourage the upbringing of sensitive children who have no inner strength
whatsoever. When it comes time for such overpraised, underachieving kids to
find success in the competitive global marketplace, they will be confused,
fearful, and ineffective.

The concepts taught by Nathaniel and Devers Branden are intellectually
ruthless and unsentimental. Some of the best ideas go all the way back to
Branden’s years working with the great novelist and objectivist philosopher Ayn
Rand.

The Brandens have taught me how to objectively explore the weaknesses in
my own thinking and to challenge the self-deception that was undermining my
effectiveness in life. “To trust one’s mind and to know that one is worthy of
happiness is the essence of self-esteem,” writes Dr. Branden. “The value of self-
esteem lies not merely in the fact that it allows us to feel better, but that it allows
us to live better—to respond to challenges and opportunities more resourcefully
and appropriately.”

The two ideas contained in the Brandens’ work that have most helped me
are: 1) “You can’t leave a place you’ve never been”; and 2) “No one is coming.”
I used to believe that I could run from all my frightening thoughts and beliefs
about myself. But all that ever did was create deeper internal fears and conflicts.
What I really needed was to get all my fears into the sunshine and demystify