© Elliot Essman 2005. All rights reserved.

These pages contain the complete 2005 revised text of Building Yourself, public speaking trainer Elliot Essman's guide to living the successful life.

Elliot Essman Public Speaking Training
Building Yourself Table of Contents
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• The more intensely the family has stamped its character upon the child, the more the child will tend to feel and see its earlier miniature world again in the bigger world of adult life. Carl Gustav Jung (1875–1961)

Parents have dreams for their children. They want their children to marry certain types of people and not others. They may want their children to follow them in their professions or “move up” into other professions they themselves couldn't reach. They may want their children to validate their own success or make up for their own failures. If they have no money, they may pressure their children to worship money. Or perhaps they push their children to have a disdain for money. “Of course Junior will be a high powered attorney” or “I don't want Junior to be another money grubbing lawyer.”

The danger is this: your parents' values regarding money and what you should do for a living may not be healthy or right for you. You're not a clone of your parents. You're a different person of a different generation.

Things change, but one thing doesn't. Independent people will always have to break free from the thoughts and attitudes of their parents. Your own parents, of course, may happen to have sensible ideas as to how you should make a living and treat money. That's fine, as long as you yourself think freely. Just remember, this is your life we're talking about, not theirs. You'll be doing the work and spending the money.