You are the ultimate creator of your self-concept, and you can improve your self-concept, even though it is not easy to evaluate yourself and it is even more difficult to change. But it is worth the time and effort to improve your self-concept.

As a manager (coach, parent, teacher, friend), you can work with others using these ideas to help them develop a more positive self-concept. One thing to keep in mind is that you need to be positive and give praise and encouragement. However, real self-esteem is based on achievement, not praise for low performance.

The following are general guidelines you can implement in your daily life to improve your self-concept. View mistakes and failures as learning experiences to improve. Realize that we all make mistakes. Talk to any successful businessperson with a positive self-concept and he or she will admit making mistakes. But he or she will tell you that you need to take some risks to be successful.

Inability to rebound from disappointments is one of the main reasons people fail. Dwelling on failure and disappointment will only have a negative effect on your self-concept. Realize that you will have disappointments but will most likely go on to bigger and better things. Control negative behavior and thoughts with self-talk. Thoughts are very important because we become what we think about, and what we think determines what happens to us. If you catch yourself thinking negative thoughts, use self-talk with positive affirmations by replacing negative thoughts and beliefs with positive ones.