At any one time more than half of the population will claim to have low self esteem.
That is a very high number and quite frankly astonishing given that it is eminently treatable.
Low self esteem is a curse which impacts on lives where it doesn't need to.
It blights millions of people's very existence and the crazy thing is very, very few people actually do anything about it.
It creates stress and anxiety and prevents you from living a fulfilled and happy life.
Fulfillment and happiness is a right we all have isn't it? Low self esteem causes all sorts of reactions and non-reactions.
These all build up to create a huge impact on your life.
It causes stress and stress as we know is a killer.
Long term stress causes high blood pressure, which makesyou vulnerable to heart attacks and strokes.
The first question to ask is if you have low self esteem, what have you done to improve it? If you do nothing to increase low self esteem, it simply will not go away.
Low self esteem is not like a cold, here for a few days then gone.
Once it sets in it can be with you for life.
However, it is treatable.
It can be tackled using very simple techniques.
Consider this - self esteem doesn't exist in primitive communities.
They don't even have a word for it because it doesn't exist.
The modern world created the social pressures that lead to low self esteem.
In actually fact you don't need either low or high self esteem, you just need it to be purposeful.
You need it to be able to do for you whatever it is that makes you get out of bed in the morning and have a good day.
It is if you like the ability to get into the right frame of mind to do whatever it is that you do.
For a airline pilot this might be very different to a prison officer or an artist.
Self esteem merely has to be purposeful.
High self esteem can frequently be as big a problem as low self esteem.
We've all come across the really cocky, over-confident salesman.
So over the top it actually puts us off buying.
That is destructive high self esteem and there are many such examples.
Many of our prisons are full of people with extremely high self esteem.
They got there because they thought they were above everyone else.
So low self esteem and high self esteem can be equally destructive and equally unpleasant.
Time spent on your self esteem is time very well spent.
We can all see the value of studying towards educational achievements.
We can all see the benefit of on the job training.
But what about training our minds? What about spending some time on a bit of a brain workout - to get rid of the clutter and beef up the important bits.
Moving from a position of low self esteem into a level of self esteem that is optimal for you is essential to peak performance in all areas of your life.