Self-worth for Students
Even before the pandemic, students were telling us how self-esteem was impacted by anxiety and non-stop evaluation. Covid has added additional burdens: such as isolation and uncertainty.
Here are some of the current issues, affecting students and young professionals:
- Significant loss of traditional employment opportunities
- Intense competition for courses, jobs, scholarships, grants etc.
- Information overwhelm, exhaustion
- Academic pressures, pressure from parents, social media and peers leaving young people feeling that they must constantly prove their worth via accomplishments
- Even when surrounded with “resources” and “support”, being very much on your own with your choices and issues
- Uncertainty about the future, how to navigate all the options ahead
- Finding work that is meaningful
- A bewildering array of choices and dilemmas: career/business direction, geography, relationships, identity
Here are some of the current issues, affecting students and young professionals:
- Significant loss of traditional employment opportunities
- Intense competition for courses, jobs, scholarships, grants etc.
- Information overwhelm, exhaustion
- Academic pressures, pressure from parents, social media and peers leaving young people feeling that they must constantly prove their worth via accomplishments
- Even when surrounded with “resources” and “support”, being very much on your own with your choices and issues
- Uncertainty about the future, how to navigate all the options ahead
- Finding work that is meaningful
- A bewildering array of choices and dilemmas: career/business direction, geography, relationships, identity
KEY SWA INSIGHTS / APPROACH
Detach from those evaluations and stories that define your self-esteem: instead learn to shape an unconditional identity
A fresh understanding of self-worth unleashes new energy and fresh perspective
Establish routines of self-care, study and exploration as an expression of self-worth
Find your own voice, rather than living the life that others want you to live. Bring this voice into work life, romance, relationships and leisure
“To love yourself is the beginning of a lifetime romance”
– Oscar Wilde
SELF-WORTH
A sense of loyal, unconditional, friendship with yourself…no matter what is going on inside or outside.
Unlike self-esteem, self-worth is not contingent on meeting expectations: neither those of others nor even of your own.
Self-worth is independent of your performance; it’s a fundamental, unconditional friendship with yourself.
Unlike the fickle friendship of self-esteem, self-worth is a faithful ally in the most challenging of times, on those grey days when you most need to be a friend to you.
A deep sense of self-worth brings joy and freedom to life. By stepping off the hamster wheel of self-esteem, we rebound better from setbacks and find new meaning in what we do.
Services for students and young professionals
The Self-Worth Safari
Key Elements:
– 7 week program with 7 modules which can be delivered in-person or online, preferably as a hybrid
– A teacher’s guide, accompanied by a 1-2 modules for teachers (again either in-person or online)
– Homework to be set between modules: practical steps for students to undertake
– A self-evaluation for students to complete at the beginning and at the end of the program (to be developed)
Skills for students, to improve happiness as well as performance
- Managing stress and anxiety, nurturing resilience and energy
- Building healthy routines for self-care and study, vs. being swamped by deadlines or projects
- Choosing which feedback you take on board, and from whom
- Bouncing back from setbacks, ending the energy-drain of self-reproach
- Learning to communicate needs and requests respectfully
- Implementing healthy boundaries, asking for help
- Dealing with difficult people, strengthening self-worth
- Packaging your strengths into insights, so that you can plan your career from a fresh perspective
- Introducing yourself with impact, making the most of social situations
- Having “explorer conversations”, the power of being interested rather than trying to be interesting
- Systematically eliminating all conditions for self-esteem, instead making choices from a foundation of unconditional self-worth
- Preventing a host of more serious issues, including addiction, self-harm and even suicide
For a confidential session with John, with no obligation, or a talk to a student group, book an exploratory call
ABOUT JOHN NILAND
John Niland is a Self-Worth Activist, advocating for deeper value of ourselves and others, to replace the current culture of conditional self-esteem.
A self-worth approach brings fresh value to life and work by…
- Replacing endless self-assessment with new freedom and wellbeing
- Replacing the craving for validation with fresh courage, confidence and creativity
- Filling the hunger for belonging with a deep connection to self and others
- Replacing stressful striving with joy
John is the author of the book “The Self-Worth Safari” and founder of Self-Worth Academy, bringing together an international spectrum of practitioners who share a belief in the power of self-worth.
Previous books include “Hidden Value”, “Opportunity Conversations” and “The Courage to Ask” (co-authored with Kate Daly). Since 2000, he is well known as a speaker at professional conferences and has coached hundreds of professionals to grow revenue and reputation, via an approach based on professional identity.
He was a co-founder of the European Forum of Independent Professionals and previous CEO of Education for the Children, which works with families in Guatemala to break the cycle of poverty.
John currently lives just outside Lisbon, following many years in Brussels, London and Ireland. He still talks about “settling down one day”.
Some of John’s key insights include:
- Self-worth is the strongest foundation for resilience, confidence and self-belief
- Most people have been educated in self-esteem, not self-worth. This often leads to constant anxiety and insecurity
- When people shift to self worth, this dramatically changes their approach to career, communication and leadership
- Self-worth is also a game changer in relationships, enabling much deeper connection
- Self-worth is essential to successfully reinvent one’s professional identity and career in the Age of AI
“In the School of Business & Law at the University of Brighton, Self-Worth Academy’s discovery session is already now well-embedded into the Foundation Year curriculum and is piquing the interest of other colleagues also working on wellbeing approaches to teaching and learning. Anyone considering introducing this to their students should find it a worthwhile endeavour.”
DR CLARE FORDER
“If we can bring the sense of self-worth into schools, children will succeed better and have a better future”
FRANCES REYNOLDS
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