Wouldn’t it be great if everything we touched turned to gold? The joy of constantly living from success story to success story has to be the perfect way to live. However, life doesn’t work that way. Woven between success stories are countless stories of disappointments.
We seldom hear these stories because they never sell many books and movie scripts can’t end this way. Who wants to watch a story that ends in failure?
The truth tucked away in all of our pasts are stories of disappointments. Let’s face it, somethings just don’t work out. Relationships go sour, jobs don’t turn out the way you expect them to and dreams find their way to the scarp yard. It’s a place we don’t like visit, but I guarantee at some point in your lifetime you’ll drive through more than once.
While it would be great if this chapter of the book could be skipped, we can move forward if we’re willing to persevere.
How to Handle Disappointments – Clear Your Mind Before Clearing Your Path.
- Avoid at all costs the pressure to begin to feel sorry for yourself. The moment you go down this path the harder it is to get out. Feeling sorry for yourself not only immobilizes you, but it also has the potential to open the door for serious levels of depression.
- Accept that fact that mistakes happen everyday. Quickly admit any mistakes you’ve made and quickly move forward. The key is not allowing yourself to get suck into rehashing the past. It will never change. The only thing you can change is how you respond today and tomorrow.
- Take a few moments, days and or weeks to put yourself around people that have your best interest at heart. Often times when we feel like we fail we want to isolate ourselves which only leads to a downward spiral. Surround yourself will people that believe in you, your skill set and your future.
- Return to your purpose. I believe that everyone has a purpose in life. If you know what that is, recalibrate your mindset to work from this foundational place. If you know what you’re suppose to be doing, it’s easier and quicker to get back into step with where you’re headed.
- Let go of any anger. Unfortunately, when things don’t go right it’s easy to feel anger towards people, bosses and organizations. Anger is a double-edged sword: it can either fuel your next initiative or it can keep you from moving forward. If you’re going to use it as fuel eventually you’ll still want to let it go.
- Look for things you would have done different. In every failed attempt at anything there are always opportunities to learn from our mistakes. Look for the lessons in the setback and keep them in mind when going forward.
- Go back to the drawing board. As soon as you are past the initial sting and you feel like you can make decisions based on knowledge, facts and lessons learned, go back to the drawing board and begin planning your next move. If you are still bogged down by any emotional toxins, be careful doing this phase. If you’re still in this state it could impact your next move and then you find yourself right back in the same situation.
- Take a leap of faith. This can be the challenging moment. When you’ve wrestled with disappointments moving forward can be the hardest thing. Who wants to potentially face failure again? What if this doesn’t work out either? What will people think if I fail again? Guess what, “all of these questions are valid?” However, your future depends on you moving forward. Take the leap… even if it’s just a step or two.
At the end of the day, you’re not the only one that has dealt with disappointments. You can win. You can succeed.
Never give up, never surrender!
image courtesy of Ben Sutherland
