Self-love
Self-love is giving more attention to what is within your control. The reverse is self-hate, which is also self-sabotage.
Acts of self-love or self-hate can be seen in what you do to yourself and other people, how you react to people’s actions towards you and others, and how you respond to events around you.
Do you give more attention to things that are within your control? Or are you concerned more about what you do not have control of?
One is self-love. The other is self-hate. And self-hate drains you of positive energy.
Self-love is not selfishness, which is repulsive and unattractive. Instead, self-love is awareness of your limits as a human being. It is staying focused on what you can control—for instance, developing yourself and your work to the best possible. It is economics of the most prized resource—time.
Self-love is different from concerning yourself with the opinions of people towards you or your work. (Not that we should ignore people's opinions or criticisms of us or our work.) We, instead, focus on what we control.
In the play Othello by William Shakespeare, Iago succeeded in ruining Rodrigo and Othello’s friendship. He also ended Othello and Desdemona’s marriage, and caused the couple's tragic death. Iago cast rumours and insinuations about a secret affair between Rodrigo, Othello's best friend and confidant, and Desdemona. And unable to control his emotions, which he could have because he owned them, Othello fell to Iago's treachery and killed Desdemona and himself.
Had Othello applied self-love, he could have known that he cannot control the choices of Desdemona nor Iago. Such awareness could have helped with self-restraint, and he could have put the rumours and insinuations to test on the long-term. If he had done this, perhaps he could have identified Iago’s lies. Instead, Iago got the bitter side of Othello's emotions, and baited him to relinquish what he controlled for what he did not control—the rumours and Desdemona's choices.
Like Othello, people would want to poke holes on your image, or business. Some would do that to present a befitting image of themselves to the public. Others would want to destroy what you have laboured to build over the years.
But to not let them succeed, to guard your hard work and reputation against such predators, practice self-love.
Focus on what you control. This will help you develop thick skin for your critics or the predators: You will let them do their job—try to smear your reputation. (You have no control over what they choose to do with you.) But will focus on what you control: working harder on making your reputation more grandee and yourself larger than life.