How can you tell if people think of themselves as successful?

Look at what’s on their resume: educational attainments, advanced degrees and certifications, positions held (always higher and higher in rank), and special honors and awards. Look what’s on their personal balance sheets: market investments, real estate, business ownership, trusts, and cash. Look at their presence on social media—are pics of them eagerly consumed because of their beauty, abs, or clothes?

What is your self-image? “Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches, but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth” (Jeremiah 9:23,24). Wealth, fame, beauty, and strength are all temporary and will soon fade away.

Is your relationship with the Lord the highest-ranked item on your personal balance sheet? Are you proud to know him? Is that on your personal resume? Is your self-worth based on your personal achievements? Or the opposite—do you suffer from low self-esteem because you see more failures than triumphs in your life?

All this pride and fear melt away when the Father’s love, the Savior’s forgiveness, and the Spirit’s wisdom and strength are the features of your life that give you the most satisfaction and peace.