As you put into play your personal improvement plan you might want to know what is the difference is between self worth and self esteem? Answer: They are basically the same. With self esteem you experience a sense of worthiness. And with a sense of worthiness you experience self esteem. But in either case, it doesn't mean that you are confident or have confidence.

In fact confident people may have no self worth or esteem and how to build or improve self worth for them is a big issue and question. Yet, those with a high level of self worth may or may not know how to have self confidence and it isn't a big issue. It's important to know the difference in implementing your personal growth and personal change plan.

Let me explain! A fellow may have lots of confidence when it comes to meeting members of the opposite sex. Yet, he may not feel good about himself and have no self worth or very little self esteem. Another example, a fellow or gal may have lots of confidence when it comes to performing their jobs any yet have no self worth or esteem; and a scientist may be very confident in approaching and solving a research problem yet have no self worth.

Confidence is something one gets from successfully completing a task time and time again. You can say he/she is an expert at whatever they do and yet they may have no self worth or esteem and no matter how big their accomplishments are they have little idea of how to build or improve self worth.

On the other hand, a person with a high degree of self worth or self esteem may have little if any confidence. And guess what? It doesn't matter. He/she likes his/her self regardless of the outcome of any endeavors. And since confidence is something that is learned from practice, the person with self esteem can develop confidence in anything he/she desires or not. If he/she develops confidence in a desired endeavor, that's great. If he/she doesn't know how to have self confidence in any endeavor, he/she may be disappointed and yet still like him/her self. He/she simply adjusts his/her life plan accordingly.

Whereas the person with confidence the result is entirely different. If he/she should happen to fail in an endeavor, he/she usually sufferers from self put-downs.

To recap. The person who knows how to build and improve self worth never puts him/her self down. Nor does he/she demean him/her self. Nor does he/she blame others for his/her short comings. No self flagellation either whereas the person who may be confident but have no self worth or esteem will demean self, put self down, and blame others for his/her short comings. Which would you rather be?

The irony is that the person who has confidence but no self worth or esteem doesn't appreciate his/her talents or abilities. Or they may have an inflated ego that is paper thin. The first goal in your personal change and personal growth plan is to learn how to improve and build self worth followed by learning how to have self confidence. Doing it in this order makes the most sense for your personal improvement plan.

But be wary! Every program I've read about on how to improve or build self worth can actually contribute to a life crisis. I would say our society is in a self esteem crisis promulgated by how we chose to improve our self worth. Read them all. They will encourage you to dress better, acquire more education, develop skills, be successful at little things and then build on that to be successful at larger goals. Yes, they all encourage you to establish and fulfill goals. Tony Robins, the incredibly successful motivation coach, builds his programs on goal setting.

Of course there is nothing wrong with setting and achieving goals in any personal improvement plan. Nothing at all. The important thing is to avoid having your personal growth and personal change goals in how to build or improve self worth be dependent on any of the goals. Achieve goals for the fun of it--not to improve or build self worth.

For if your self worth is dependent on your developed talents, relationships, educational achievements, professional achievements, accumulated wealth, and so on, when and if any of those things are threatened, so is your self worth and that is why our society is in a self worth crisis.

Ask yourself, why should your self worth be affected if you lose a physical skill, or if you age and your looks change, or if you make a bad investment, or if you lose your job, or if you lose your beloved spouse or God forbid a child, and so on? If you build your self worth correctly, it can never be threatened.