“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

You are not your lost job, your failed marriage, your failed exam, or your fancy cloth, watch, car or house. The value you place on yourself determines how others treat you, just like the dollar bill is always worth a dollar no matter what you do to it: rumple it, step on it, tear it, still a dollar. Why? Because the marketplace and the society agreed to accept it as legal tender no matter what. That is the same way your worth is determined, the value you place on yourself.

You are what you say you are, what you tolerate becomes your standard.

The marketplace would pay you exactly the value you place on yourself, nothing more nothing less. You are worthy, you need nothing more, you are specially made to withstand any circumstance trust on you. As Leo Buscaglia once said: ” ‘Your talent is God’s gift to you. What you do with it is your gift back to God.’

In his great book, Seasons of Life, Jim Rohn writes:

Do not doubt yourself, for where doubt resides, confidence cannot. Do not neglect yourself, for with neglect comes loss. Do not imagine yourself to be less than you are, nor more than you are, but seek always to become all of which you are capable. Do not allow yourself to become arrogant or discourteous, for both are characteristics adopted by those who seek to cover their weaknesses.

Do not spend time regretting the past, but invest that time wisely by preparing a better future. You are a fertile seed of the creator of all things, destined not to lie dormant, but to spring forth from the soil called life, and grow upward toward the unlimited horizons— overcoming all obstacles in the process. It is your destiny to tap your talents and to achieve all that of which you believe yourself to be worthy… to love more, anticipate more, overcome more, plan more, attract more, and enjoy more than you ever dreamed possible. Such is the standard of life awaiting your mental decision and outstretched hand. You are deserving— you are becoming—and you shall succeed.

When you’re 18, you worry about what everybody is thinking about you.
When you’re 40, you don’t give a darn what anybody thinks of you.
When you’re 60, you realize that nobody has been thinking about you at all!

Here are some great quotes on knowing your self-worth: