https://summaryshelf.app/authors/nathaniel-branden/Recent content in Nathaniel Branden on SummaryShelfHugoen-usFri, 31 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://summaryshelf.app/six-pillars-of-self-esteem/Fri, 31 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://summaryshelf.app/six-pillars-of-self-esteem/<p>Self-esteem is not a feeling you can talk yourself into. Nathaniel Branden defines it exactly: the disposition to experience yourself as competent to cope with the basic challenges of life and as worthy of happiness. That splits into two parts. Self-efficacy is confidence in the functioning of your mind — in your ability to think, understand, learn, choose, and decide. Self-respect is assurance of your own value, an affirmative attitude toward your right to live and be happy, comfort in asserting your thoughts, wants, and needs. Lose either and self-esteem is impaired. And neither arrives as a gift: its possession over time, Branden writes, represents an achievement.</p>