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What is your self-estimate?

Written by: Jonathan Payne

Article Overview: Your self-esteem is the value which you place on yourself. You can choose what you want that value to be. You can have a low self-esteem, regarding yourself as being worthless, or you can have a high self-esteem and regard yourself as priceless. Nobody else can place a value on you.

What is your self-estimate?

One of the rarest stamps in the world is the British Guiana One-Cent Magenta. In 1856 in British Guiana (now Guyana) stamp supplies were running out, so printers were asked to produce an emergency “provisional” supply. They were meant to have a value of four-cents, but obviously a mistake occurred and a few accidental misprints occurred. In 1875 a young boy was searching through family correspondence and came across one of the “provisionals” inscribed ‘Once Cent’ instead of ‘Four Cents’. As far as it is known it is the only existing copy of a One-Cent version of the stamp. The stamp was last purchased as a collector’s item in 1980 for $935 000 (R8,3 million). Legend has it that a second British Guiana 1c magenta had been owned by wealthy US industrialist Arthur Hind but that Hind had burnt it and proclaimed: ‘There’s only one magenta One Cent Guiana’.

Rare and unique items are of exceptionally high value precisely because they are so scarce. A piece of paper meant to be sold for one cent is now worth millions because it is the only one. Usually the value of such items can only be estimated as it is difficult to tell what monetary value they would fetch on the market.

What do you estimate your value to be? Considering the fact that you are absolutely unique, that you have never existed before and this planet will never see another person identical to you, I estimate that you are priceless. Certainly you may share certain characteristics with many other people, just as most stamps are basically square and printed on paper. But it is the unique blending of those characteristics, a product of genetics and experience which cannot be duplicated, which makes you one of a kind.

This means that you, and only you, have a special contribution to make to life. In programmes that I conduct I often come across people who prefer to sit in the background and keep to themselves. Now there is nothing wrong with being a quiet person and being happy with your own company, but there is a problem when you don’t share your opinions and insights with other people. Your contribution to the greater whole is the same as adding a single, rare stamp to complete a valuable collection. Without it the collection is missing something.

Most people hold their opinions and insights to themselves because they don’t want to be seen as pushy, arrogant or opinionated. They see it as a way of being humble. While humility is a virtue, there is a fine line between humility and selfishness where we withhold what we could offer. Other people need the gift that you have. And you are the only person who can offer it.

Earlier I used the word “estimate” as a way of gauging the value of a rare item. That word shares a common root with the word “esteem”. Your self-esteem is the value which you place on yourself. You can choose what you want that value to be. You can have a low self-esteem, regarding yourself as being worthless, or you can have a high self-esteem and regard yourself as priceless. Nobody else can place a value on you. Certainly they can say or do things which may influence your estimate of yourself. But it is you who decides whether those words or actions will affect the value you place on yourself.

Low self-esteem is debilitating. It debilitates the person because they believe themselves unable to produce anything of worth, emphasizing their faults even when producing brilliant work. And low self-esteem debilitates the community because those people fail to recognize that they have something of value to offer, and so pieces of information and valuable insights are lost forever.

Your value has very little to do with your wealth or with the people you associate with. Currently the British Guiana One-Cent Magenta stamp resides in a bank vault in Philadelphia because its owner, US chemical fortune heir John Du Pont, is serving a 30 year prison sentence for murder! The stamp is no less valuable because it is owned by a criminal. And likewise, your circumstances do not dictate your value.

What is your self-estimate? Like the British Guiana One-Cent Magenta, you are exceptionally rare. Only you can make the contribution possible by someone of your unique blend of genetics and experience. You are priceless and you have a lot to offer this world. But only you can make that estimate. How high is your self-esteem?

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Article Tags: 1c, arthur, british guiana, family correspondence, genetics, industrialist, misprints, mistake, monetary value, piece of paper, printers, quiet person, rarest stamps, stamp supplies, unique items



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