What is your self-concept? How does your self-concept determine how much success you have in life?
According to Brian Tracy, your self-concept determines your level of success across all areas of life. Everything you do gets filtered through your self-concept, influencing your thoughts, emotions, and behaviors in alignment with that internalized perception of yourself.
To learn more about your self-concept and its role in your life, keep reading.
The Role of Self-Concept in Your Success
What is your self-concept? Your self-concept is the core set of beliefs you subconsciously hold about your identity and capabilities. Since you inevitably act in ways that reflect your self-concept, having an empowering self-concept expands what you believe you can achieve, and therefore what you will achieve. A negative self-concept will have the opposite effect—if you undervalue your abilities, you’ll never achieve as much as you’re really capable of.
Your self-concept is made of several interconnected elements:
- Your self-ideal encapsulates your vision of your highest potential; who you aspire to become.
- Your self-image reflects your current perceptions of yourself.
- Your self-esteem dictates how much you like and accept yourself. Your self-esteem is based largely on how closely your self-image matches your self-ideal—the closer you are to your ideal self, the higher your self-esteem will be.
(Shortform note: The idea of the self-concept and its three components comes from the work of 20th-century psychologist Carl Rogers. Rogers also taught that how closely your self-image matches your self-ideal (what he calls congruence) often depends on how you were raised. If you received unconditional love as a child, then you’d have had no reason to create an ideal self that’s much different from how you already are. On the other hand, if you felt like you had to “earn” your parents’ love, it’s much more likely that you developed a distorted self-ideal—a version of you that you felt was worthy of their love—and that you now suffer from low self-esteem because you aren’t living up to that impossible ideal.)
Tracy says that by clearly defining your self-ideal, then taking steps to realign your self-image with that vision, you can boost your self-esteem. That, in turn, will boost your entire self-concept. Doing so will increase your confidence and make you better able to reach your potential.
Tracy provides some advice on how to put this concept into practice. First, vividly envision your self-ideal: Who do you want to be? Next, realistically and compassionately evaluate your present self-image. This means seeing where you’re falling short of your ideal self but not berating yourself over those perceived shortcomings—just acknowledge that you’re not yet the person you hope to become. Once you have a clear idea of where you are in life versus where you want to be, you can start finding ways to bring your actual self more in line with your ideal self.
(Shortform note: Striving for self-improvement is admirable, but trying to become your ideal self isn’t always practical, especially for people who suffer from perfectionism or anxiety. This is because such people often set an unreachable ideal. This mindset often leads to a cycle of self-criticism and disappointment as they constantly fall short of their impossibly high standards, which damages their self-esteem instead of boosting it. By shifting their focus from reaching an unattainable ideal to making constant small improvements and practicing self-acceptance, perfectionists can cultivate healthier relationships with themselves and their personal development journey.)
In addition to making your self-image more congruent with your self-ideal (which will boost your self-esteem as a side effect), you can also work to directly build up your self-esteem. For instance, you might try reciting positive mantras like “I like myself.” Also, explore areas where you may be harboring limiting beliefs about yourself (“I’m bad at math” is a pretty common one), and consciously reframe them in a more positive and self-affirming way (perhaps, “I could use more practice at math”).
(Shortform note: Meditation is another effective tool for enhancing your self-esteem. This is because, in many cases, low self-esteem stems from an excessive focus on yourself. This preoccupation with yourself leads to constant rumination over perceived flaws and past mistakes. Meditation helps you calm your mind and refocus your attention away from that internal self-critical voice. With time and practice, you can develop the ability to think about yourself without judgment, and that reduction in negative self-talk will improve your self-esteem.)
