Take a look at some of the very successful people in this world. What is the one thing that is definitely common between all of them? No, we are not taking a test on biographies here. All we are trying to say is that just to be victorious in life, one has to believe in oneself. This is exactly the spirit that famous and successful people like Mahatma Gandhi, Albert Einstein, Helen Keller and Nelson Mandela possessed, that made them win in their own lives and encourage million others.

On the other side of the coin are people like Marilyn Monroe, Charlie Manson and Karen Carpenter, who did not even think twice before taking their own lives. They definitely did not think much of themselves.

Thus it can easily be concluded that self-esteem plays a big role in the success or failure of a person. Self-esteem refers to ones own worth or value in ones' own life. So to measure the success of a person, you only have to see whether they even believe in themselves or not.

High or low self-esteem is not something one is born with. It is determined by our environment and our circumstances. It is ideal that the development of self-esteem starts from one's own home. At the tender age group of one to five years, the minds of children are impressionable. So special efforts should be made to make the child feel loved, cared for, cherished and respected from this early age itself.

It is important to go straight to the root of a problem. So if your child makes a mistake, instead of making him or her feel guilty, or punishing them for it, you must have a dialogue with your child and find out why he or she did what they did and also try to find out whether they are feeling sorry about it and how can they correct this mistake. This exercise will not only leave your child's self-esteem unharmed, but will also cultivate decision making skills in him or her.

As a result of your efforts, thus, your child feels important and trusted. If you trust someone, they will get encouraged and motivated to do their best in the task. If you appreciate the strengths of a person, they will try harder to display these strengths more frequently.

You can easily detect the signs of low self-esteem and take corrective action if you are displaying any of the following traits:

Group 1

-Feeling of not being cherished and respected by anyone

-Feeling of extreme jealousy

-Sense of dependence on other for everything

-Loss of decision making abilities

- Displaying excessive anger

-Always under the pressure to over achieve

-Need for everything to be always nothing less than perfect

-Worrying too much

-Shying away from trying out anything new,

especially from taking any sort of risks

-Frustration

-Feeling of helplessness at not being able to understand or describe feelings

-Poor performance at workplace or school

Group 2

-Does not avoid problems, rather solves them

-Views problems as an impetus for further growth

-Trusts people

-Ability to take reasonable risks

-Ability to handle life independently

-Thrives on meeting people and forming lasting friendships

-Accepts compliments gracefully and gives them with the same grace

-Expresses emotions in a an open manner and also understands them

-Gets along with others easily

The authors of the book "Managing Your Mind", Tony Hope and Gillian Butler are of the opinion that the people displaying the traits of Group 1 have low self-esteem, whereas the qualities of Group 2 are those seen in people possessing self-esteem that is of a healthy level.

The self-esteem in people starts developing in their early childhood. However, you can still overcome low self-esteem at any age. You only have to accept the fact that you have low self-esteem and then start the corrective measures for it. You can improve your self-esteem in a number of ways. You can test your self-esteem on many websites online.

Such tests would enable us to make the necessary changes in our lives by improving our self-esteem. Professionals can give us a more thorough and detailed evaluation. These tests by professionals are designed for specific individuals and also recommend ways for improvement.

But we have to realize that these tools only help us know where we are going wrong. The rest of the change will depend on your determination and your efforts.