High self-esteem is not necessarily always helpful – especially when it is not grounded in reality. (Psychopaths incidentally are commonly known to have high self-esteem). The other problem is that we tend to use the term too broadly – to refer to the total value of a person – while ignoring specific strengths and weaknesses, good points and bad.  While we can indeed measure specifics (eg height, amount of money, wealth of knowledge in a specific area, and so on), there is no way of establishing the ‘value’ of a total human being. What is more important, is in fact to have an accurate self-image, ie to see yourself as you actually are. Your specific strengths and weaknesses, abilities, likes / dislikes etc, at any given moment in time (as opposed to forevermore). And without judgement. This is true acceptance, and both cognitive-style therapies and mindfulness training can be very helpful for people who struggle with it. But acceptance alone is not enough. Human beings also need a sense of purpose, to be committed to something. For example in terms of myself – what would I like to learn, improve at, or change, etc? So a healthy self concept is on the one hand accepting the current reality, while on the other, being courageous enough to keep working on specific areas that matter to me. These two attitudes of acceptance and commitment are in fact not only crucial to a healthy self concept, but also to many other areas, including the maintenance of healthy exercise and eating habits. No surprise then that they are the cornerstones to a relatively new psychotherapeutic approach known as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, which focuses on developing greater psychological flexibility, for improved general well-being.