We all have our days of the blues and setbacks. Fortunately, for many of us these days are few, and in many cases we can bounce back and get on with our lives. However, for some people discouragement can be a continuous battle. It can leave a person feeling listless and useless.

The negative effects of this debilitating emotion can also wreak havoc on our lives, leading to all kinds of failures and setbacks. Discouragement has been known to reverse progress, destroy enthusiasm and bring on depression. If left untreated, the results can be catastrophic. To make matters worse, discouragement is said to be a very difficult emotion to trace and perhaps one of the hardest to overcome.

Sources of discouragement

While there may be many known and unknown causes for discouragement, there seem to be two common ones that are more prevalent than others.

The most common cause of discouragement is being overwhelmed by goals and tasks that seem too big to reach. The expectation to make the grade appears awesome and, in some cases, the mountain seems almost impossible to climb. Consequently, people view their shortcomings with doubts and misgivings. This leads to the tendency to give up and quit.

The most common cause of discouragement is being overwhelmed by goals and tasks that seem too big to reach.

Ironically, discouragement can also come from having a lack of goals. While there are many who become fearful at the enormity of their tasks, there are many others who get depressed because they have no meaningful planned goals at all. Deep inside is a lingering, nagging frustration because they are accomplishing nothing worthwhile. Their lives can be compared to a ship at sea tossed to and fro by the waves with no goal or destination in sight.

Whether we are discouraged because of the enormity of our goals or depressed due to the lack of goals, the result can be a life of regression, stagnation and depression.

Growth is vital

Both kinds of discouragement lead to one common element—a lack of growth and progress. In essence, then, a lack of progress is a root cause of disappointments and setbacks for many people. A careful study of the Bible reveals that our Creator has put a desire in all of us to achieve, to grow and to succeed.

Sometimes a little more push, a higher reach or a more determined effort make the difference between success and failure.

Growth, then, is the principal thing that governs life, and when we see growth stymied, we naturally get discouraged and depressed. Growth is also the principal element that we see in all of creation, from the sprouting of a seed to the birth of a child. All life starts small then grows through many stages of development until it reaches maturity. Life is meant to be an active, ongoing process, forever reaching higher levels of achievement and usefulness. Therefore whenever one fails to grow in character, he or she experiences a deep sense of emptiness and failure. The inevitable result is discouragement and despair.

Set goals

It is vital then for all of us to embark on a program of setting positive goals in order to grow and lead a rich and productive life. People who say life is meaningless and not worthwhile are really saying that they themselves have no personal goals that are worthwhile. Developing goals worth shooting for and breaking down those goals into manageable steps prevents us from being overwhelmed with the “bigness” of the tasks.

Approaching goals one step at a time enables a person to grow in confidence and courage. The key is to begin, as accentuated in the old Chinese proverb: “A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step.” You have to start before you can finish and be determined to follow through to the end. When one goal is finished, it’s important to begin another one. It’s a healthy practice to always have something ahead of you to look forward to; some worthy cause to work for and hope for. Remember, standing still and living a stagnant life is what brings on discouragement.

You will no doubt meet hardships and obstacles on your journey, but look on obstacles not as problems and setbacks, but as challenges and opportunities to learn new ways to accomplish your goals. Sometimes a little more push, a higher reach or a more determined effort can make the difference between success and failure.

Clearly the only sure way to master discouragement is to establish meaningful goals and grow daily toward their fulfillment.

The main ingredient

Although we have a part to play in reaching our goals, we cannot go it alone. We can only go so far.

The real secret of a successful life of growth and development lies in the power and might of our Creator God and the power of His Holy Spirit through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. If we are to accomplish goals that bring lasting happiness, we must be spiritually united with Christ and wholly dependent on God for direction and guidance (Proverbs 3:5-6). This is the key ingredient.

We must be spiritually united with Christ and wholly dependent on God for direction and guidance.

Jesus said, “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). Also, in Acts 17:28, it states, “In Him we live and move and have our being.” And again, “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us” (Ephesians 3:20).

Human effort alone is insufficient; we need the power and strength of God’s Spirit to empower us and give us the courage and motivation to press forward to accomplish our goals. “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7).

In summary then, the secret to overcoming discouragement and experiencing a fruitful life is becoming aware that God has created in all of us a desire to achieve, grow and succeed. To fulfill this desire, we must set the right goals and allow God to determine what they should be and rely on Him for guidance and direction. We must focus on achieving goals every day of our lives and attain them through “bite-size” accomplishments, all the while allowing the help from our Almighty Creator to bring everything together for the right results.

God has guaranteed our success if we put our trust in Him to help us overcome discouragement and become the productive, happy and successful persons we were meant to be.