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Download our Seminar Schedule for the Month of September 2008 in PDF format

Increasing Individual Productivity in the Work Place through mastery of self-esteem

The Nature of our Seminars:

This seminar has been designed to address individual productivity on three separate levels. The first level has to do with removing the blocks that people bring with them to work. The better that a person feels about themselves, the more likely they are to become creative and determined to do a superior job for their employer and for themselves. This, of course, presupposes a positive collaborative relationship with the employer. In order for a person to feel good about themselves they need to have an accurate self-assessment, and recognize what strengths and weaknesses they bring to the task. The ideas and beliefs that hold us back from doing our most productive work stems from our self-esteem, which includes all the beliefs we currently hold about our talents and abilities both positive and negative. Nathaniel Branden, a contemporary psychologist, who is often referred to as "the father of self-esteem" has stated unequivocally that "self-concept is destiny ". Understanding how our self-esteem develops and what we can do to change our self-concept is essential in changing our level of productivity on a permanent basis. An important question that arises is, of course, “How do we learn who we are?” Our primary care takers, usually mother and father, transfer to the child their own beliefs and ideas about how the world works, what is to be expected from themselves and others in various relationships, and what we, as their child, can reasonably expect from ourselves and the world. To the extent that the messages we receive are nurturing, uplifting, optimistic, and loving, we learn that much of the world is “good”, and that we have the power to be creative and loving, and that we will be rewarded for having done so in many ways, including financially, emotionally, and spiritually. The flip side of course, is that we observed and learned the reverse of the above where the care takers are not nurturing, but instead, perhaps hurtful and abusive to each other and to the child. This leaves the child with the belief that the world is unsafe, unfair, and that we ourselves are defective, non-creative, undesirable, unwanted, and unlovable. In order for the child to develop a positive self-concept it is necessary that he or she be supplied with an adequate emotional connection with one or both or his or her care takers. Therefore, even if the child has not experienced emotional, physical, or sexual abuse, the mere absence of emotional connection can leave the child feeling an emptiness, which can be experienced by the child as a feeling of inadequacy, un-lovability, and persistent anxiety. People in the above category, often find themselves struggling with addictions in order to cope with the negativity they have experienced. Addictions that we develop during our lives are deceptive in that they give us the illusion that we are in more control of ourselves while actually achieving the reverse effect. Learning to deal effectively with the energy of our emotions, as opposed to avoiding, repressing, or mishandling our feelings allows our energy to be directed towards a goal or project in a conscious, productive, and direct manner, as well as raise our self- esteem, and have more rewarding relationships with our colleagues , friends, and lovers. Once we have identified the issues that a person is suffering from as a result of the abusive, absent, or maladaptive parenting they received, and have identified their negative patterns of behavior, including their addictions we move on to the second level, which involves challenging the beliefs that continue to fuel the feelings and behaviors which support the low self-esteem and negative behavior patterns by filling in the gaps that are created from the removal of the negative early scripting. This involves teaching the individual new ideas, concepts, and belief systems which the person may never have previously considered. There are many methods for helping a person who did not grow up in a loving, nurturing, intact family to help them unlearn the negative and destructive beliefs and behaviors modeled and molded in that household. However, when there is an absence of emotional connection over a long period of time the task of repairing the damage becomes more difficult. When there is abuse of any kind the person must first recognize that he or she has been injured; that the injury has remained unhealed, and that healing needs to occur for the person to feel good about themselves which involves feeling competent and lovable. This involves learning new skills of relating to others and new ways of thinking about ourselves, the goal of which, is to create a feeling of optimism and positive expectation. These new skills need to be practiced over and over until they become habitual and internalized. The goal of all of this is to help a person so that eventually these new skills become so well integrated that the person automatically incorporates them into a new sense of self. The third and final level involves combining the first two levels, so that when a person “slips” and reverts back to the original negative sense of self (as inevitably happens when people make important changes in their lives) they notice their slips quickly and are able to reestablish the new learned skills set. This seminar has been designed to accomplish all the above tasks, and in addition, to give people ongoing support in making the difficult changes necessary to change their lives permanently.

Seminar Description: