Why Criticize When We Can Encourage?

Minutes before encouraging my best friend to have the wedding of his life!

Why do we spend more time criticizing people we don't know and whining about things we can't control than encouraging people we love and enjoying what we have?

I've been contemplating this idea of criticism vs encouragement. It makes no sense to me that we spend hours a day on social media only to criticize the things/people we see. We often let other peoples' experiences, commentary or opinions dictate our conversation. Why?

At the same time, we are worrying about what other people are doing and complaining about what they have. Instead, why don't we support friends who are working their ass off for a promotion or creating a new company and encourage them to be great. Be the friend who buys your friend's new product, shares an article they worked hard on, reads their book, compliments their parenting, or text them privately about how you have their back.

When we hang out with people, we shouldn't waste time criticizing others but rather we should spend time talking about our experiences and living in the moment. We should share and reflect on our own experiences and memories, and how they lead to happiness for both ourselves and the people we have these experiences with. 

This little shift in our mindsets from criticizing others to encouraging people we care about helps us focus on being more present for ourselves and others, and building deeper bonds with the people we are in contact with.

CHALLENGE: Think of someone you care about and text them some words of encouragement.

Jake Kelfer is the bestselling author of Elevate Beyond and a lifestyle entrepreneur. He is the founder of the Professional Basketball Combine which features NBA draft prospects in a secondary draft combine. As a high energy inspirational speaker, he is on a mission to elevate and motivate millions of people to achieve their definition of success. He and his work have been featured on Forbes, Sports Illustrated, ESPN, NBC Sports, USA Today, Bleacher Report, and many other major media outlets. Connect with Jake on social @jakekelfer!
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