Ego vs. Self-Esteem

Awesome! I just made the winning shot in the final seconds to win my recreational basketball game. If pandemonium had a sound, then I could hear it from the hysterical parents on the bench and my teammates at the front-court all screaming positive feedback my way like "great job!", "yeah Ken!", and "you're the bomb!"

After these sensational seconds, I walk away from this experience with a flow of internal happiness. Surely over the next few days or even hours, this euphoric feeling will fade. Although in the long-term, will making the most crucial shot of the game truly do anything for me? Will my ego fly sky-high because I was the one to seal the deal? Or, did I just experience a boost in self-confidence and in self-esteem? Where do we draw the line between these two categories - how do we distinguish between a short-lived ego boost and a true rising in self-esteem?... knowing that raising your self-esteem beats pumping your ego any day.

This is a question I have internally debated ever since discovering the difference between these two things recently. It is a vital question to answer given that raising self-esteem is taking a step towards self-actualization and long-lived happiness. As for those ego boosts... lets try to set them aside.

Any thoughts on how to truly raise self-esteem? Well I hear that self-destruction = self-improvement because you are destroying your ego, but just how can we achieve this?