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Psychology

Neurosurgeon argues self-esteem is disease and elite performers should have no esteem

Lewis Howes School of Greatness · Neurosurgeon: Change How Your Brain Works in 30 Days | Dr. Mark McLaughlin · July 13, 2026
Neurosurgeon argues self-esteem is disease and elite performers should have no esteem
Lewis Howes School of Greatness
Lewis Howes School of Greatness
Neurosurgeon: Change How Your Brain Works in 30 Days | Dr. Mark McLaughlin
"I don't want to have high self-esteem. I don't want to have low self-esteem. I want no esteem. Esteem is a roller coaster that I don't want to ride. Self-esteem is not helpful. Connecting with yourself is. Being who you are, accepting who you are as it is, understanding that you're enough. The disease of self-esteem. I think that if you really talk about elite performers that day in and day out deliver what they need to, they don't have esteem. They have no esteem. Not high esteem, not low esteem, no esteem."
Dr. McLaughlin makes the controversial claim that self-esteem itself is harmful to performance because it creates comparison and judgment. He argues elite performers succeed by accepting themselves as enough rather than riding the roller coaster of high or low self-esteem, distinguishing self-esteem from self-identity and self-connection.
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Lewis Howes School of Greatness
Lewis Howes School of Greatness

Neurosurgeon: Change How Your Brain Works in 30 Days | Dr. Mark McLaughlin

August 3, 2026 · 1h 20m · 5 Egleze moments
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