Praise provokes complacency; yet angers indifference.
Every dreamer needs at least two people on her team if she is to succeed.
More important, she must become these if success is to be sustained.
The first person must be capable of praising her efforts.
This cheerleader must celebrate her successes no matter how small.
He must also be able to re-frame her failures no matter how frequent.
For him, the bright side is the only side worth seeing.
This doesn't mean that he ignores reality.
On the contrary, he is just partial to the opportunity every failure unfolds if we endure.
In this regard, he shares similar traits with the second person --the appraiser-though not as pronounced.
Whereas the praiser applauds her performance, the appraiser nurtures her potential.
He causes her to see things about herself that familiarity overlooks and indifference underrates.
His service incites an excellence that would otherwise elude.
Yet with his help she sets bigger goals and devises alternate ways to achieve her dream.
Without this tandem she tends to dream irrationally and settle insensibly.
Yet praise proves her ability and appraise challenges it.
If we can't find these qualities in others, we must develop them in ourselves.
Hence, the importance of self-talk.
Without this dialogue we are diluted before we are defeated.
If we can accomplish this, however, we diminish the risk of turning back.
Motivation, in this regard, requires a keen sense of self and self-respect.
If we can't honor ourselves we won't honor the dream rightly or consistently.