February is International Self-Esteem Month, when we are encouraged to boost our morale, and to seize new challenges. Personally, I haven’t caught up with the old challenges yet, and I don’t think my morale needs boosting. I have exactly as much morale as I need to get through the day, and not an iota more. If there is one thing in the world that we don’t need more of, it’s self-esteem. The daily news is full of politicians and entertainers who are almost exploding with self-esteem. It's not just annoying, it's also potentially dangerous. That’s why we have many negative words to describe it: pride (one of the seven deadly sins); egotism; narcissism; smugness; conceit; vanity; vainglory; and of course, hubris . They all lead to trouble because they are all based on false information. Self-esteem is always a mistake. We hear a lot about the problem of young people who lack self-esteem. But if they haven’t done anything or achieved anything, their low self-esteem is completely