Self-esteem is the opinion you have of yourself. If that opinion is low, you will have problems getting motivated and being successful. Fortunately, a poor sense of self-esteem can be reversed. In fact, it can’t survive if you follow these six suggestions.

1. Don’t indulge in self-criticism

Let’s say you’ve invaded a foreign country and things have gone badly— the residents there are fighting with each other, no one can find the WMDs you said the leader of that country had, and your poll numbers back home are in the toilet. Don’t admit to that person in the mirror that you’ve botched the situation by not planning more carefully. Why are you joining the other side to wage war against yourself? Silence your inner judge and hope in a hundred years it will all have been forgotten.

2. Don’t try to be like someone else

Trying to be like someone else can lead to a lack of self-worth and confidence. Remember, you are unique. You can strive to be better, yes, but don’t criticize yourself for not being as successful, as attractive, as smart, or as popular as some other person. You are just fine being who you are—an unsuccessful, unattractive, dumb, loathsome loser who wants to kill himself. And here’s the good thing: with all those negative characteristics you have no place to go but up.

3. You can choose to please yourself before others

Imagine that you are a member of Congress and a gun industry lobbyist offers you a big bag of cash to support pro-gun legislation. You could really use the dough, because it’s tough to support a wife, two mistresses, and a drug habit on a Congressman’s salary. But you have some qualms about backing a product that kills tens of thousands of people each year. Well, it’s nice that you care about harming others, but aren’t your needs just as important? Of course they are. Take the money and run.

4. Failure is not a permanent condition

Failure simply means you are not successful YET. Everybody fails on their way to succeeding. Donald Trump was an incompetent and inept businessman for many years. But he saw failure as a means to learning. With God’s help, and with the assistance of a reality TV show, the FOX news network, and the Russians, Trump engineered a change of direction and became President of the United States. Problems can make you stronger if you strive to overcome them.

5. Focus on your successes

Ken Lay, the former CEO of Enron, was reported to have been feeling kind of blue before he abruptly dropped dead of a heart attack prior to being tried for business fraud. Why was he depressed? Maybe because his company’s illegal scams had cost its stockholders and employees billions of dollars in profits and pensions, and he had ruined the lives of thousands of people, many of whom wanted to kill the lying, no-good SOB.

But Lay should have remembered the truly successful things he had done in his life. For example, he succeeded in stealing tons of money from his company for years before being caught. Had he focused his mind on the chutzpah and cunning that it takes to wipe out a business the size of Enron he might have found the strength to overcome his physical problems and stand trial. Don’t concentrate on your failures! Focus on your successes!

6. Remind yourself that as stupid as you may be, there are others out there who are dumber

There are more than seven billion people living on earth, so even if you’re a world-class dimwit it’s more than likely that there are a few other people on the globe are denser than you. Anyway, if you’re able to read this, how stupid can you really be? Are you as stupid as the captain of the Titanic, who didn’t slow down his ship when he was warned of icebergs in its path? Are you as stupid as General George Armstrong Custer, who against the advice of his scouts split up his small force and was massacred with a few hundred other US cavalrymen at the Little Big Horn? Are you as stupid as Paris Hilton, who said, “What’s Wal-Mart; do they sell, like, wall stuff?” Probably not, so relax and don’t be so hard on yourself. That’s stupid.

I’ve just given you six steps that you can take on the road to becoming more confident and successful in your daily life. If you start on this road you will have to keep at it. Others will sometimes knock you down, so you will need to be strong and listen to your heart. You should also listen to your head, but only if it talks to you politely and offers good advice. Good luck and God bless.