If a poset does not have any infinite descending chains it is well-founded

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My professor told me “If and only if a poset does not have any infinite descending chains it is well-founded” . And PO relations are reflexive and in (x,x): x is a Predecessor for x then we have a descending chain like x,x,x,x,x,... I’m confused by the definition. Should we ignore all (x,x) elements like what we do in minimal definition ?