08 March 2022

While it is hard to believe, not all disappointment is negative or where we see the end of the world coming towards us. Take a moment to visualise the last time you were a disappointment or were disappointed by someone or something but made it through the situation. As you can clearly see, you made it through. You are strong and have what it takes to get through tough times as long as you recognise and use the right tools and resources to get there.  

Four Ways to Turn Disappointment into Success

1 - Change Your Perspective 

It’s essential to realise that success cannot be achieved without some form of disappointment or failure. This is one of the most common characteristics of successful entrepreneurs, businesspeople and even athletes; they have all failed at some point but continued through anyway. Just because you are disappointed or are experiencing disappointment now doesn’t mean you are not currently successful in some way or will not become successful one day. Again, no success comes without learning through disappointment. Learn to enjoy the journey and find the value each day brings to the overall process.  Life is a journey and not a destination – so make sure you enjoy your life’s journey even when hitting the low points.  When one hits an all-time low, the only way is up. 

2 - Take Responsibility for Your Actions and Dissect the Disappointment

Why are you really disappointed? What happened - you can fix and improve in some way? Remember, you can only control your reactions, emotions, or response and no one else’s. In other words, it is better to find the areas you can take full responsibility for improving on and doing better even if that means working on yourself and not on a situation. Blaming others and not recognising your own responsibilities will only hinder your own success.

3 - Find the Lesson and Use it as Motivation

Through disappointment and failure, there is always a lesson to be learnt. Likely just like many adults, you have areas that need to be worked on. So instead of dwelling on the disappointment, change it into motivation and practice each day new ways of being a ‘better you’.  When one does not learn from a previous disappointment and repeats the same scenario down the track, then one will keep having the same things happen repeatedly until the lesson is learnt. 

4 - Keep the Momentum Going

Don’t use this time to slow down. Instead, take the time to evaluate your emotions and take a couple of days off. However, that doesn’t mean you should put all your current goals on the back burner completely. Instead, use this time to focus on them even more, and less so on the disappointment or disappointing situation itself. Again, it is only a brief moment of time that you can adjust and avoid with consistent and daily actions, no matter how big or small. 

Don’t let disappointment keep you from being successful again. Instead, act and learn to always take responsibility for yourself to improve and find the value of each lesson life throws your way in your life’s journey. Through every failure or disappointment, success is waiting to happen.  If you didn’t pass through moments of disappointment in life, then how would you ever realise that you had gone through a moment of success and victory along the way?