The following thirty-week sentence completion program is designed to help you practice more consistently what Dr. Branden calls the “six pillars of self-esteem.”
Weeks 1-4
Week 1
- If I bring more awareness to my life today…
- If I take more responsibility for my choices and actions today…
- If pay more attention to how I deal with people today…
- If I boost my energy level by 5 percent today…
Week 2
- If I bring 5 percent more awareness to my important relationships…
- If I bring 5 percent more awareness to my insecurities…
- If I bring 5 percent more awareness to my deepest needs and wants…
- If I bring 5 percent more awareness to my emotions…
Week 3
- If I treat listening as a creative act…
- If I notice how people are affected by the quality of my listening…
- If I bring more awareness to my dealings with people today…
- If I commit to dealing with people fairly and benevolently…
Week 4
- If I bring a higher level of self-esteem to my activities today…
- If I bring a higher level of self-esteem to my dealings with people today…
- If I am 5 percent more self-accepting today…
- If I am self-accepting even when I make mistakes…
- If I am self-accepting even when I feel confused and overwhelmed…
Week 5
- If I am more accepting of my body…
- If I deny and disown my body…
- If I deny or disown my conflicts…
- If I am more accepting of all the parts of me…
Week 6
- If I wanted to raise my self-esteem today, I could…
- If I am more accepting of my feelings…
- If I deny and disown my feelings…
- If I am more accepting of my thoughts…
- If I deny and disown my thoughts…
Week 7
- If I am more accepting of my fears…
- If I deny and disown my fears…
- If I were more accepting of my pain…
- If I deny and disown my pain…
Week 8
- If I am more accepting of my anger…
- If I deny and disown my anger…
- If I am more accepting of my sexuality…
- If I deny and disown my sexuality…
Week 9
- If I am more accepting of my excitement…
- If I deny and disown my excitement…
- If I am more accepting of my intelligence…
- If I deny and disown my intelligence…
Week 10
- Self-responsibility means…
- If I take 5 percent more responsibility for my life and well-being…
- If I avoid responsibility for my life and well-being…
- If I take 5 percent more responsibility for the attainment of my goals…
- If I avoid responsibility for the attainment of my goals…
Week 11
- If I take 5 percent more responsibility for the success of my relationships…
- Sometimes I keep myself passive when I…
- Sometimes I make myself helpless when I…
- I am becoming aware…
Week 12
- If I take 5 percent more responsibility for my standard of living…
- If I take 5 percent more responsibility for my choice of companions…
- If I take 5 percent more responsibility for my personal happiness…
- If I take 5 percent more responsibility for the level of my self-esteem…
Week 13
- Self-assertiveness means…
- If I lived 5 percent more assertively today…
- If I treat my thoughts and feelings with respect today…
- If I treat my wants with respect today…
Week 14
- If, when I was young, someone had told me my wants really mattered…
- If, when I was young, I had been taught to honor my own life…
- If I treat my life as unimportant…
- If I were willing to say yes when I want to say yes and no when I want to say no…
- If I were willing to let people hear the music inside me…
- If I were to express 5 percent more of who I am…
Week 15
- Living purposefully to me means…
- If I bring 5 percent more purposefulness into my life…
- If I operate 5 percent more purposefully at work…
- If I operate 5 percent more purposefully in my relationships…
- If I operate 5 percent more purposefully in marriage…
Week 16
- If I operate 5 percent more purposefully with my children…
- If I were 5 percent more purposeful about my deepest yearnings…
- If I take more responsibility for fulfilling my wants…
- If I make my happiness a conscious goal…
Week 17
- Integrity means…
- If I look at instances in which I find full integrity difficult…
- If I bring 5 percent more integrity into my life…
- If I bring 5 percent more integrity to my work…
Week 18
- If I bring 5 percent more integrity to my relationship…
- If I remain loyal to the values I believe are right…
- If I refuse to live by values I do not respect…
- If I treat my self-respect as a high priority…
Week 19
- If the child in me could speak, he/she would say…
- If the teenager I once was still exists inside of me…
- If my teenage self could speak, he/she would say…
- At the thought of reaching back to help my child self…
- At the thought of reaching back to help my teenage self…
- If I could make friends with my younger selves…
Week 20
- If my child self felt accepted by me…
- If my teenage self felt I was on his/her side…
- If my younger selves felt I had compassion for their struggles…
- If I could hold my child self in my arms…
- If I could hold my teenage self in my arms…
- If I had the courage and compassion to embrace and love my younger selves…
Week 21
- Sometimes my child self feels rejected by me when I…
- Sometimes my teenage self feel rejected by me when I…
- One of the things my child self needs from me and rarely gets…
- One of the things my teenage self needs from me and has not received is…
- One of the ways my child self gets back at me for rejecting him/her is…
- One of the ways my teenage self gets back at me for rejecting him/her is…
Week 22
- At the thought of giving my child self what he/she needs from me…
- At the thought of giving my teenage self what he/she needs from me…
- If my child self and I were to fall in love…
- If my teenage self and I were to fall in love…
Week 23
- If I accept that my child self may need time to learn to trust me…
- If I accept that my teenage self may need time to learn to trust me…
- As I come to understand that my child self and my teenage self are both part of me…
- I am becoming aware…
Week 24
- Sometimes when I am afraid, I…
- Sometimes when I am hurt, I…
- Sometimes when I am angry, I…
- An effective way to handle fear might be to…
- An effective way to handle hurt might be to…
- An effective way to handle anger might be to…
Week 25
- Sometimes when I am excited, I…
- Sometimes when I am aroused sexually, I…
- Sometimes when I experience strong feelings, I…
- If I make friends with my excitement…
- If I make friends with my sexuality…
- As I grow more comfortable with the full range of my emotions…
Week 26
- If I think about becoming better friends with my child self…
- If I think about becoming better friends with my teenage self…
- As my younger selves become more comfortable with me…
- As I create a safe space for my child self…
- As I create a safe space for my teenage self…
Week 27
- Mother gave me a view of myself as…
- Father gave me a view of myself as…
- Mother speaks through my voice when I tell myself…
- Father speaks through my voice when I tell myself…
Week 28
- If I bring 5 percent more awareness to my relationship with my mother…
- If I bring 5 percent more awareness to my relationship with my father…
- If I look at my mother and father realistically…
- If I reflect on the level of awareness I bring to my relationship with my mother…
- If I reflect on the level of awareness I bring to my relationship with my father…
Week 29
- At the thought of being free of Mother psychologically…
- At the thought of being free of Father psychologically…
- At the thought of belonging fully to myself…
- If my life really does belong to me…
- If I really am capable of independent survival…
Week 30
- If I bring 5 percent more awareness to my life…
- If I am 5 percent more self-accepting…
- If I bring 5 percent more self-responsibility to my life…
- If I operate 5 percent more self-assertively…
- If I live my life 5 percent more purposefully…
- If I bring 5 percent more integrity to my life…
- If I breathe deeply and allow myself to experience what self-esteem feels like…
The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem (MP3) 
Taking Responsibility 
The Psychology of Self-Esteem 