This quote from Mr.
Edison is one example of many that could be cited and untold millions that we will never hear about.
"I haven't failed, I've found 10,000 ways that don't work" Thomas Alva Edison.
And he kept on working until he found the solution.
Quitting is failure.
Getting what we are after is success.
In between these two end points we are working.
Some may laughingly call us a "work in progress" and that we are...
for all of our lives.
It is not just that this job market is so bad that we are considered a work in progress.
When we have that job, we'll be working on some other part(s) of our life.
We go on.
That is what makes us who we are.
Getting discouraged along the way is a natural as getting hungry.
We solve the hunger problem by eating and no one, including ourselves, thinks anything of it.
Why the big deal about discouragement? Partly it is our secrecy about our discouragement.
Partly it is because we think we are the only one discouraged.
Partly it is the "disease" mystic our culture has assigned to discouragement.
And unfortunately, it is partly because there are those who smugly say: "Just get up and work", "Discouragement is all in your mind", "Get over it".
That is like telling a person who has no food and is hungry to "get over it".
Let's stop pretending discouragement doesn't exist or it is only a small thing and will go away on its own.
Hunger won't.
If you have food you can relieve hunger.
If you know what to do and are willing to do it you can relieve discouragement.
What can you do? Let's make a list without pretending that anyone solution is a silver bullet.
Use your own judgment about which you can do.
Remember the operative word here is "work".
Starting with work, anything will do to start.
Meaningful work is best because it is needed by someone.
You don't have to be hired to do work.
Whatever you do, it will feel good to work.
Feeling good will dispatch discouragement.
Smile.
Smile often.
Think of reasons to smile and do it.
Smiling will melt the ice of discouragement.
Write, think and repeat out loud positive affirmations.
You choose what they are.
Do it several times daily.
Stop the negative affirmations which are part of discouragement.
If you think you are not using negative affirmations, stop kidding yourself.
Saying and writing positive things, especially about yourself drives discouragement away.
Pray.
The exercise of faith requires doing something.
Praying is an exercise of faith.
God always rewards those who exercise faith.
Discouragement has a hard time is the opposite of faith.
Teachers often say they learn more than their students.
I believe this is true.
The same is true of those who are discouraged.
Find someone who is discouraged and help them overcome their discouragement.
Encourage them.
Share a positive experience from YOUR life.
Be their friend in whatever way you can.
There is a magic in giving of yourself.
Giving creates energy that flows out of you right through the pipe in which discouragement lives flushing it clear in the process.
Change your attitude about failure.
Accept it for what it is and go on.
Discouragement is part of life.
Acknowledge which it grabs you.
Do what you need to do to overcome it and go about the business of your life.
Don't work to avoid failure, work to achieve success.
That is an attitude.