Here’s a perfect example. I once purchased a course on overcoming fear. One of the primary fears that I had was approaching women. Once I was around someone of the opposite sex a few times, I felt comfortable. But making the initial contact seemed almost impossible for me. I was paralyzed by my fear of rejection.

So I began studying this course on overcoming fear which was phenomenal by the way. I learned everything there was to know about fears and how to overcome them. I was extremely confident in my knowledge of what I had learned.

Well, Friday night came and I was out with some friends and I saw a woman that I thought was very attractive. Just as I was about to do something had never done before (walk up to her and start a conversation) I began thinking about some other factors that may ruin my chances.

I began telling thing like: "I’m not her type" "There’s so many other guy’s in here, why would she find me attractive?". And so I never made my move. I spent the rest of the night feeling like a coward but in the back of my mind I also truly believed those things I was telling myself.

So while I think I overcame my fear of rejection, it was my low self-esteem that stopped me from doing something as simple as saying hello to someone.

As a self-improvement junkie, I have always strived to be better at what I do. Sometimes though, I got things mixed up.

I believed that reading, listening to cd’s & tapes, etc. would make me more effective at certain things which would in turn raise my level of self-esteem.

In reality however, it was the other way around. I first needed to work on my self-esteem. I needed to do whatever it took to truly raise my level of self-esteem as high as possible before applying any personal development knowledge.

Reason being is this. Our self-esteem truly governs every other aspect of our being. Low self-esteem can ruin every other attempt that one takes toward improving him or herself.

By simply continuing to read, listen to tapes or cd’s etc, without dealing with the core problem, all you are simply doing is masking the problem.

There are many resources available out there on self esteem and lucky for you, I’ve gone through most of them and have found one that I find to be effective, easy to read and inexpensive.

Today, I’d like to introduce you to an excellent e-book from the folks over at The Anfield Institute of Personal Development.

I found this book to be very different from anything else that I have read on this topic. But aside from being original and easy to read, it was effective.

The exercises in this book helped me to move forward in real life situations so I would no longer be held back from a better life as a result of my self-esteem.

Aside from helping me become more successful at my ventures in life, it also provided me with something that you really can’t put a price tag on......waking up every day feeling good about myself.

Visit The Complete Self-Esteem Workbook Website