A bit of psychology: The Terror Management Theory of Self-esteem

The Terror Management theory of self-esteem is an interesting concept. Human behavior, it says, is motivated by the awareness that death is inevitable. The tension — that we want to live and that we will all die one day –creates anxiety. Therefore, we need self-esteem as it serves as a buffer—it helps us to decrease the terror and to alleviate the fear of demise, which otherwise “paralyzes” and prevents us from pursuing our life goals.

5 Reasons Why You’re Not Getting Ahead in Life and Work

We all, naturally, want to see our endeavors pay off. No one likes to work for the sake of working—it’s always to achieve something greater, to create, to leave a legacy behind. And while things as luck, talent, abilities, even our backgrounds matter to a point, certain personality traits, which we can largely nurture, and the decisions that we make, have the greatest say in our outcomes.