03: High Cost of High Expectations

Motivation and expectations are supposed to go hand-in-hand.  The idea being – if you’re expected to achieve a goal, your motivation kicks in to meet these expectations.  In this episode, Dr. Lisle goes over a concept called The Ego Trap.  Which is the trap we may find ourselves in if the expectations of our performance exceeds what we think we can reasonably accomplish.  Dr. Lisle describes this trap, how this process works, why it works the way it does, and how to effectively overcome it. 

 

Copyright Beat Your Genes Podcast

Host: Nathan Gershfeld

Interviewee: Doug Lisle, Ph.D.

http://www.BeatYourGenes.org

Intro & outro song: City of Happy Ones · Ferenc Hegedus

02: Stepping stones to Self-Esteem

Dr. Doug discusses some important findings about understanding your self-esteem.  For many years and even today, self-esteem is considered the crux of happiness and fulfillment in life.   Often thought of like a vitamin, many psychologists assume that we “need” self-esteem in daily doses to feel accepted, happy, and satisfied with life.  

Dr. Doug discusses this notion and offers an alternative way to look at sel-esteem.  

 

02: Stepping Stones to Self-Esteem

What does “self-esteem” actually mean?  In this episode, Dr. Lisle goes over the history of the study of self-esteem.  Then he explains his own discoveries of  esteem processes including self-esteem. As it turns out, nobody can give you “self-esteem”.  Dr. Lisle explains that self-esteem is quite literally esteem of your self, so it is how you view yourself.  So, what’s called “low self-esteem” or “high self-esteem” is entirely based on how you view yourself.  However, this view is not easily changed, as Dr. Lisle describes a concept called the “internal audience” – a sort of social meter sitting inside your mind that views your own behavior & effort in context with expectations.   When you impress your ‘internal audience’ through diligent effort, you feel higher self-esteem.  In this episode, Dr. Lisle describes what you can do to impress your internal audience and therefore improve your self-esteem.