CAN SELF-ESTEEM HELP WITH BOTH PROFESSIONAL SUCCESS AND GENERAL HEALTH?

Perhaps the link between professional success and self-esteem is clearer and straightforward, and it of course important to have a high regard of oneself in the professional realm. As Nathaniel Branden wrote in his book “The Seven Pillars of Self-Esteem”, “self-esteem is the belief that we are appropriate to life”, basically that we have what it takes to be able to cope and face the challenges that life presents us. But if we wanted to also find the correlation between self-esteem and better general health, would that be so straightforward?

MENTAL HEALTH

Numerous studies demonstrated a strong correlation between self-esteem and resilience, with good mental health outcomes as a result of high self-esteem. Research suggests that individuals with higher self-esteem tend to experience lower levels of anxiety, depression, and stress, and this is because when we have ourselves in high regard, we prioritize our self-care, ourselves and our health too, as part of our holistic being. We are more prone to look after ourselves and we tend to have less self-doubt.

With higher self-esteem we tend to have more positive thoughts than negative ones, because we are able? to reframe thoughts faster and, if we do experience negative feelings, we are able to snap out of them more easily. High self-esteem also means recognizing our strengths, but also what we feel we need to improve. As Adam Grant calls it, a kind of “confident humility”! Because of this recognition of worth and for seeing challenges as opportunities, individuals with higher self-esteem then are able to take healthy risks to further grow and improve upon themselves.

An important aspect of self-esteem is of course one of my favorite topics, self-assertiveness: the ability to recognize our needs and wants and ?advocate for ourselves, which means standing up for what we believe in. Funnily enough because we are talking about health, in a study in 2017 it was observed that nurses who went through a course of assertiveness, communication skills and stress management at the workplace, had impressive results for their wellbeing and their teams’ and also in patients communication dynamics.

SELF-ESTEEM AND PHYSICAL HEALTH

While the connection may not be as direct as with mental health, several studies have suggested that self-esteem can influence physical health outcomes. And we can understand where this might come from. It is because you love yourself more that you decide to do something beneficial for your health. Higher levels of self-esteem have been associated with better health behaviors, such as regular exercise, healthier eating habits, and lower rates of substance abuse.

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PROFESSIONAL SUCCESS:

Research has also examined the role of self-esteem in professional settings. Studies have found that individuals with higher self-esteem tend to exhibit greater confidence, resilience, and motivation in the workplace. They may be more likely to set ambitious goals, pursue opportunities for advancement, and navigate challenges effectively. I think that an organization with self-esteem is an organization where there is a culture where is ok to cultivate excellencism instead of perfectionism, a culture where it is possible to make mistakes, fall and then get up again. A place where there is psychological safety and we can all speak up and be more creative. It is also a workplace culture where learning is encouraged, where upskilling is the rule, and why not, where self-esteem and self-assertiveness are taught and health is considered holistically.

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Of course external factors influence our self-esteem as well. If we are told that we are not worth it, or that having high self-esteem is equivalent to brag or something like that, then of course it will be much harder to improve our own narrative and self-talk.? Social expectations, and systemic inequalities can shape individuals' self-perceptions and opportunities for achievement too.

AND SPEAKING ABOUT FEMALE HEALTH…

Talking about inequalities and the role of speaking up for better female health, on March 13th I am talking to Lisa Falco, author, former colleague and data scientist working at the intersection of health and AI, and we tackle what role assertiveness plays in better female health. Don’t miss it.

I had the idea for this event when I went to the doctor’s with my mom. My mom had long Covid and she kept coughing. The doctor kept saying this was nothing, and in the end it was nothing but he would not even try to listen to her fears of what this could be, or make a scan of her lungs to rule out anything bad. I was with her and I felt he treated her like the “imaginary invalid”. And this is how women historically have been often treated, even in clinical trials from which we have been excluded for a long time.

When I read Lisa’s book, I realized how important it was for us women to know our body better, to understand that the concerns or the differences we feel throughout our lives are absolutely normal and valid, that we are not “hysterical” when we have our period or when we feel sad. It is a very huge and important topic. I want to try to understand whether by speaking up we could not only have a better healthcare system as exposed in the study I talked about before, but if people could achieve better health outcomes by speaking up more and cultivating our self-esteem more, which is the pre-condition to be able to communicate what we need! ?I still feel a bit stigmatized when going to the doctors, and it should not be like this.

But what can we do meanwhile to have better self-esteem in organizations and advocate for ourselves more? A few steps that can help:

-????????? Knowing ourselves. Self-enquiry is very difficult, but nowadays there is just so much that can be done, like having a coach or a therapist to get to know yourself, what you like and what you stand for

-????????? Changing our personal narrative: how can we have a more healthy outlook on ourselves and how can we be more objective about the great and small things we have done to be exactly where we are now?

-????????? Reframing: a great resilience tool. How can we shift perspective, what is the positive in the negative? Perhaps something that looks totally negative has a positive challenge hidden.

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There is so much potential for better health and more organizations geared to self-esteem. Can’t wait what happens in the future and how this revolutions both mental health and physical health, not only for women but for all mankind.

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