Some of us, when we're quoting some person, quote someone we've never even heard of. We quote playwrights, leaders, authors, politicians, business leaders, basically anyone who says what we want to say, or in a way we would want to say it ourselves, if we were less modest and more well known.
Myself, when I quote something I've written, I tend to put an "anonymous" label or a "Weekday Wisdom" label, and let it go at that. I just can't seem to bring myself to be vain enough to quote myself, at least extensively.
So it's interesting to me when I not only quote someone I've heard of, but quote someone that everybody (pretty much) has heard of and admired, in one way or another.
If I'm going to be quoting Clint Eastwood, ordinarily, it's going to be a line from one of the Dirty Harry movies -- either "Do you feel lucky, punk," or "Go ahead and make my day." that's the way life gets.
But this quote from Eastwood: "Respect your efforts, respect yourself. Self-respect leads to self-discipline. when you have both firmly under your belt, that's real power" is not only profound and insightful, but it's very close to a cure-all for personal self-esteem issues.
The truth is that the only way we gain self esteem is by doing something that is worthwhile. Sure, we can lie to ourselves and tell our subconscious that we're worth more than we are. But deep within each of us is a little part of our brain that I tend to refer to as a "BS detector." It knows what's possible and impossible, what's right and what's wrong, and whether we're trying to fool ourselves or not.
That little BS detector will sabotage our efforts, if our efforts are merely a sham or a lie. It knows what we're capable of, so any growth we make has to be genuine.
Eastwood's call to "respect your efforts, respect yourself" is the first step to gaining true self-esteem, because it's only through accomplishment that we learn to respect our contributions. The accomplishments may be simple or elaborate, almost-impossible, or "easy peasy". But it's the attempt and the achievement that makes the difference. Bigger needs and larger contributions can wait until later -- right now, we need to get something done, achieved, and behind us, We need to take the stepping stone on our path to greater self-esteem.
Our BS detector will keep us from taking credit where it's not due, so it will stand as a check and balance on our natural desire to do something in the easiest, less contributive way of life. And our challenge and achievement will help cement our accomplishments into true self-esteem, and provide a foundation to make our lives more worthwhile.
Copyright, 2011, by Daryl R. Gibson. All rights reserved. Permission is hereby granted for the non-commercial redistribution of this document as long as it remains intact with this copyright and all other lines. This license does not extend to the use of this material in a compilation, whether for profit or non-profit use. Join us at http://www.Weekdaywisdom.com.
