Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life: How to Unlock Your Full Potential for Success and Achievement

Commit to Excellence
➤
91
ccc_tracy_6_90-117.qxd  6/23/03  2:48 PM  Page 91

---

much you think of yourself as an important and worthwhile person.
Your self-esteem is the power source of your personality. It deter-
mines your levels of energy, enthusiasm, motivation, inspiration,
and drive. The more you like and respect yourself, the better you do
at everything you attempt. And the better you do, the more you like
and respect yourself. Self-esteem and personal excellence reinforce
each other.
■
THE BETTER YOU DO
Self-esteem
and
self-efficacy
are flip sides of the same coin of person-
ality. You can genuinely like and respect yourself only when you
know, deep in your heart, that you are really good at what you do.
A sense of 
personal mastery
is absolutely essential to the healthy hu-
man personality. Every single thing that you do in an excellent
fashion boosts your self-esteem and makes you feel better about
yourself. It makes you feel even more confident of performing at
even higher levels.
Achieving your full potential requires high levels of courage and
confidence. Great success requires a continual willingness to move
out of your comfort zone, and to break the bonds of learned help-
lessness that hold most people back.
The higher your self-esteem, the more powerful, positive, and
determined you will become. The more you like yourself, the more
willing you will be to take chances, to step out in faith, and to per-
sist longer than anyone else. The better you become in your chosen
field, the stronger and more confident you will become in every
other part of your life as well.
■