It happens to the best of us. We want something to come to pass, but despite our best efforts, it doesn’t turn out the way that we hoped it would. For many, feelings of disappointment and failure can be overwhelming in such cases. But disappointment is common, so we need to find a way to pull ourselves out of our funk when it does occur.
Here are a few things that you can do when it happens to you:
- Give yourself a break. Whenever something doesn’t go my way, I find it’s best to just take a quick break until I get over my initial grief. Time really does help you heal and find a way to regroup.
- Phone a friend. It’s likely that you have at least one friend who is able to lift you up when you’re feeling down. Call them when you’re hit with some disappointing news and let them brighten your mood. They’re just a phone call away.
- Come up with a Plan B. Just because it didn’t work out this time doesn’t mean that it won’t work out in the future. Sometimes all that you have to do is find another way. Instead of wallowing in pity, come up with a Plan B, C, D, E or F until it works out the way that you want it to.
- Get to the bottom of it. When something goes wrong for me, it helps me to gather information about why it turned out the way that it did. The more information you have, the less likely you’ll be to blame yourself for the outcome, and the more likely you’ll be to have a better outcome the next time.
- Treat yourself for the effort. When push comes to shove, the most important thing is that you tried. If you don’t put yourself out there, you are never going to get what you want so be sure that you reward yourself for the time and effort that you put in (no matter what the end result).
- Remind yourself that everyone fails from time to time. Every successful person that you can think of has not always been so successful. They’ve all failed at least once (and probably a lot more). Give yourself some grace when faced with similar letdowns- some really big names have walked in your shoes.
- Make a list of your accomplishments. When all else fails, remind yourself of everything that has turned out well for you- all of your previous accomplishments and successes. In the face of disappointment, it’s easy to forget about them and lose your confidence. The bottom line, however, is that you’ve done it before and will make it happen again.