The key to bolstering your self-esteem is understanding its roots. Self-discrepancy theory suggests that your self-esteem is determined by how you compare to two mental standards (Higgins, 1987). The first is your ideal self, the characteristics (mental, physical, emotional, material, and even spiritual) that you want to possess based on your desires—the “perfect you.” The second standard is your ought self, the person others wish and expect you to be. This stems from expectations of your family, friends, colleagues, and romantic partners as well as cultural norms. According to self-discrepancy theory, you feel happy and content when your perception of your self matches both your ideal and ought selves (Katz & Farrow, 2000). However, when you perceive your self to be inferior to both your ideal and ought selves, you experience a discrepancy between your self and these standards and are likely to suffer low self-esteem (Veale, Kinderman, Riley, & Lambrou, 2003).