3 Powerful Elements of Self-Encouragement.

Self-encouragement is your guard against the challenge of discouragement. Cultivating this powerful attitude will help you to mitigate the issue of lack of enthusiasm, and loss of passion. Self-encouragement is about encouraging yourself in discouraging situations. Encouraging yourself empowers you, making you enthusiastic and passionate about achieving your goals. In one of my books “The Threshold of Life,” I mentioned discouragement as one of the 3-D factors (3Fatal Ds). Discouragement can be anyone or anything that does not motivate or spur you to success in life. It is a threat to success that you must deal with if you need a successful and fulfilling life. Sources of discouragement may include;

Circumstances of life may be a discouragement to your success. These are situations or things that prevent you from becoming successful. Don’t allow your present challenges to discourage you from achieving your aim in life. Rather put them behind you and forge ahead. You must bury your past and present failures and face your future. Be excited, and have a burning passion for achieving your goals. It is only in doing so that you can succeed and find fulfillment. Don’t let circumstances around you dampen your can-do spirit and quench the passion to achieve. Many are easily discouraged by what they see or what happens around them. Self-encouragement is the answer when discouraging circumstances surround you

People around you can also be a source of discouragement to you. Most of the time, we are discouraged by what others say. One anonymous quote says; ‘One of the worst things you can do is to listen to those whose only words are words of discouragement or words like ‘I told you that you couldn’t do it’.

You must be careful; don’t let people around you discourage you from undertaking or embarking on a course that brings you happiness and satisfaction. Anyone even your loved ones and friends can be a source of discouragement.

 In 1997, I was having some crises and came to the point that the only option was to change base. I felt a strong urge to relocate. Immediately, I made up my mind and decided to talk it over with someone very close to me who instead of encouraging me ended up discouraging me the more. I became more discouraged than I was before then. I was determined so I decided to embark on that journey. That decision has paid off, and now looking back at time I am grateful to God for such a wonderful decision. Self-encouragement was the key. I encouraged myself. Always encourage yourself even if nobody does.

From that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples, how he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day. Then Peter took him and began to rebuke him, saying, be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee. But he turned, and said unto Peter; get thee behind me, Satan… (Matthew 16:21, 22, 23). 

 What was Peter doing? He was discouraging Christ from embarking on a course of glory. Peter felt he loved Christ so much and wanted to protect him from impending harm and dangers. The same thing happens to us at times. Your loved ones may think they are protecting you from risks, heartbreaks, failures, and disappointments, but often they become overprotective, and end up discouraging you.

Most parents are guilty of this one offense. To them, their children must not suffer or go through what they went through. You better be careful as this is not good for your children. It will erode their self-confidence and deny them of their happiness at last. This is a bad trend. Don’t deny them the freedom to explore and discover themselves. Parents should give their children the opportunity to express their potential.

Courage is the key word when it comes to self-encouragement.  We are discouraged when there is no courage or willpower left in us. So to encourage ourselves we must garner courage. One important attribute of courage is that it will always break through no matter the stern challenge. And according to Walt Disney, ‘All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them’.

You can encourage, motivate, and spur yourself to success if you are bold and courageous.

The best way to deal with discouragement is to have foresight. You will develop an attitude of self-encouragement and learn to encourage yourself when you begin to look beyond the present and look at the future. Foresight is the ability to see what is likely to happen in the future and take appropriate actions. We can deduce that the concept of foresight is a fusion of three important elements of success namely; vision, judgmental prowess, and action. Hence, with foresight you can see your future; and take bold steps to actualize your goals in life by making daring decisions that will have far-reaching effects. These are long-range decisions that will lead to an incredible quest for success.

Foresight can help you imagine and paint a fascinating picture of your life in the future. It will help you become who you imagine or foresee. So if you see a picture of a future that holds a lot of happiness for you, pursue it. This becomes a goal or an aim in life. Tenaciously hold to your goals. You will find fulfillment if you can achieve your them.

Determination is the key to a successful life. Your self-encouragement must culminate in determination. Encourage yourself to the extent you are determined to succeed no matter the challenge. See yourself as unstoppable, and invincible in the face of challenges. With this element of self-encouragement, you will create the self-awareness of the need to succeed.

Determination has an element of discipline. You must discipline yourself to persevere and endure challenges. Through determination, you will understand that tough times don’t last but tough people do. And see your challenges as stepping stones to greatness not stumbling blocks or obstacles. Tell yourself, ‘I must succeed in life, I will not quit because of challenges’. This is self-encouragement. You have just encouraged yourself, be determined to make it real.

Finally, the ante dote that will prevent you from becoming a casualty of discouragement is self-encouragement. In tough times encourage yourself, even if no one does. Don’t let people and circumstances discourage you. To cultivate this attitude you must be bold and courageous, have foresight, and be determined. Above all, we should encourage ourselves in God.

Get my book ‘The Threshold of Life‘ and read more about the topic.

Tune in for more exciting blog posts. Till then imagine, believe, and dare the impossible!