Life Coach Teaches How to Beat Self-Defeating Behavior

Life coach and self-development expert S. Renee Smith of Dover was working recently with a group of military personnel who were preparing to re-enter civilian life when one man pulled her aside. “I really want to talk to you about low self-esteem,” he told her. “I know everyone thinks I’m really smart and am doing really well, but inside, I feel like crap.” Says Smith, “I thought, ‘Oh, what’s going on here?’” It’s an issue she encounters often while helping both individual and business clients—even those who seem most confident—so she’s learned a little about it over the years. Now her guidance is available through “Self-Esteem for Dummies,” which she co-wrote for John Wiley & Sons. In “Self-Esteem,” she conveys real stories that demonstrate how to drop negative self-concepts and self-defeating patterns of behavior so that readers can build better relationships with difficult friends, partners, family members, co-workers and bosses, then achieve greater success in all areas of life. “People come to me because they want something they don’t have, and they don’t have the skills to get it,” Smith says. “It’s never because they want confidence. They never realize they’re coming to me to discover themselves.” Smith, also a motivational speaker, is the author of self-published titles, including “There Is More Inside.” Remembering that—there is more inside—she says, is the key to self-confidence. “It’s about knowing who you are and why you are on the planet.”