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Have you ever known someone like this? "A person who knows how to start well, but finds it difficult to keep going"? A person whose successes are dependent on the quality of someone else's encouragement and motivation? Someone who consistently let's discouragement get the better of him? Ever found yourself like that? There's hope, read on.

Don't Worry, Be Happy! &^%$%^

Yeah right! How many times have you wished you could bit**-slap somebody for saying that at the moment you least needed it? I know I have a bunch. The problem is, most of the time you're in a moment of discouragement when that is said. So, those words come across as being insensitive and cold blooded.

Our first reaction is to lash out at the person who said it, to give them a piece of our mind. And, sometimes we even tell them to stay out of our life and mind their own business. Of course, we really don't mean it; we're just reacting to the discouragement that has pounced upon us.

But, have you ever considered this? The other person doesn't really feel your discouragement. Oh! Really, you say: Yeah, big revelation. Be nice to me now. Seriously, if they did, and especially if it was a loved one, they would never say words that would rattle your cage. But, the discouragement at hand makes us want to take out our saber and cut off their right ear.

Then what happens is, the other person, who at the moment was probably feeling pretty chipper and happy, suddenly feels the fury of your wrath so they take out their boxing gloves and then we got a full scale war on our hands. It all started because one person felt discouraged and now we got two people pi**ed off worse than a couple of fire breathing dragons.

Makes Your Hair Stand On End!

At a moment when you are really in your groove those words just roll off like water off a duck's back. But, discouragement can change the whole face of the situation. It can cause us to even sabotage our own best efforts. It can take the best laid plans of mice and men and turn them into mush.

Do not underestimate the potential effects of discouragement. It is like a virus; it spreads and can become so contagious that it acts like a permanent personality trait. Make no bones about it; it can make your dream not worth the powder to blow it up. When the roots get that deep, it takes military strength anecdotes to rid it.

A Thief In The Night!

Discouragement has probably caused as many business failures as lack of capital, because it is first to show up. The discouragement shows up long before the money runs out. Then the day by day emotional warfare begins and the potential to self-sabotage everything we are trying to accomplish. At that point; the money runs out!

At the end, we blame it on the lack of money, our spouse, our next door neighbor, our cat, or anything that makes us look not at fault and out of our control. After all, if we could have stopped it, we would have. But, what we really did was try to stop the effects of the failure before trying to stop the discouragement that was fueling it.

Consider this: take a forest fire out of control; it is much easier to cut off the fuel than to drown it. Just clear areas outside the fire and it'll burn itself out. If the fuel line to the engine is not cut off, then it's pretty safe to bet our efforts to stop the failure will not succeed. Succeeding at any task in life is hard enough without allowing discouragement to hamper our efforts. A mind filled with discouragement will never have the motivation to keep going.

A Force To Be Reckoned With!

It will cause the person affected by it to become jealous and resentful of others success. It can cause a woe-is-me attitude that will hang around like stink on a skunk. Discouragement will paralyze the strongest of dreams, which is the reason many people affected by it start well but can't keep going.

Many people try to cover it up. Some are able to do it pretty effectively. But, underneath there is an undeniable and unmistaken pain and hurt that saps the person's motivation and causes depression to set in many cases.

With such a wide spread problem is there anything that we can easily do to combat discouragement? Remember, discouragement needs fuel to spread and grow. The fuel is our thoughts but, just telling ourselves to, "don't worry, be happy," does no more good than it did when our friend said it to us.

Do This Bright And Early!

Just as soon as you tell yourself not to worry the pressure will become a storm. It's almost like waving a red flag in front of a bull. He is going charge it and discouragement is going pound your thoughts till you "forcibly" take action to run them out. Once discouragement has set in the situation calls for serious action. It's time to sit down with a good book.

At this point in time you need some help so don't try to be the honcho moncho and go it by yourself. You need for your eyes to feed on words that will help. I'm a firm believer in self-suggestion and auto-suggestion; these techniques have helped me immensely through the years. But discouragement is dangerous and you don't want to play footsy with it.

Don't Judge A Book By It's Cover!

Whatever book you read, do it quickly. I keep a handy Bible around me for moments like these. I get into the Psalms and Proverbs. My favorite is the ninety first Psalm. And, it is amazing how quickly discouragement takes a hike. I'm just as human as any one else and discouragement tests me like everyone. But, one thing I do is run for the Book when it comes. The Book anecdote never fails.

If you don't read the Bible then I would suggest you find some good motivational book to feed your eyes on. There are a lot of them. And, don't leave that book till you feel the pressure subsiding. It will, sometimes ten minutes, sometimes thirty minutes. But, that is a small price to pay for peace and calmness of mind.

This is the only method I have ever tried that works one hundred percent of the time combating discouragement. As many of you know I'm a big believer in, "you possess what you confess". The art of affirmation has brought me through in more cases than I can count. It's not "hocus pocus", it's not "blab it and grab it;" but it is a universal and spiritual truth that all can take advantage of and will greatly help anyone.

Don't Cut Off Your Nose To Spite Your Face!

So, don't try to re-invent the wheel and spend possibly years trying to discover some hot dog brand new strategy that no one has ever heard of and test it against your most dangerous enemy. Go to the Book, it'll never fail you.

Richard Vegas ©