Encouraging and Motivating by Letter

From time to time we all need a little bit of encouragement and motivation from our friends, family or work colleagues and a written letter of encouragement or motivation can often mean even more to us than by simply telling us face-to-face as we can always refer back to the letter over and over again if we ever need a morale boosting lift.

Letters of encouragement can offer comfort to us if we’ve been hit by a personal setback or disappointment or if we’ve been suffering with ill health. They can also be used to motivate people in the workplace. For example, a letter of motivation might be sent to an employee to increase sales performance further after a particularly fruitful month or to spur co-workers on to even greater accomplishments.

How to Write the Letter

Whether for personal or professional purposes, these types of letters are expected to be positive so they should focus on a person’s achievements or what can be achieved. In these cases, the letter should be sent soon after the particular achievement has been gained as it can be a further spur to do even better next time and drive home just how well a person has done in the hope that they will strive even harder to achieve more.

However, in the case of a letter offering encouragement to a person who has suffered a personal setback, written correctly, the letter can be an even greater driving force in helping the recipient overcome their disappointment and move forward following the setback. As well as being a motivating force, you can also offer help and advice in these kinds of letters, if you feel it’s appropriate and humour can also be used, where you feel the recipient might appreciate it.

The letters can be written formally or informally, depending upon the circumstances and your relationship with the recipient but they should always be positive and leave the recipient feeling optimistic and motivated.

Here is an example of a letter to a work colleague who is off work sick following a road accident.

Dear Dennis, I was shocked to hear about your road accident when I came into work today and about the extent of your injuries. I just wanted to write to say that I’m thinking of you and know that you are a ‘fighter’ and that two broken legs aren’t going to keep you down for too long. In fact, I’m sure you’ll be back kicking lumps out of all the blokes at the weekly 5-a-side football matches before we know it. You must be in a lot of pain right now but, knowing you, once that subsides, you’ll be screaming for the crutches to get out of bed and you’ll be hopping around the hospital grounds in no time. Knowing you, you’ll probably try to escape! I called your brother and he told me that, apart from your other minor injuries, the fractures were clean breaks so at least that should motivate you and enable you to start your physiotherapy before too long. You know that the whitewater rafting and camping trip is only 4 months away now so you should tell yourself that you’re going to be ready for that as the trip won’t be the same without you being there - even if it’s just me being selfish because you cook the best camp food! Anyway, I’ll be home at the weekend so I’ll pop in to see you and bring you a bunch of grapes or something. Make sure you put clean pyjamas on!! Ha Ha! If you need me too do anything or want me to bring in any of your belongings to hospital for you, just call me. Take care my friend, get well soon and I’ll see you on Saturday. Lots of love, Angela