Have you felt disappointed as you look for a new job, career change or seek out the right livelihood? Have your best efforts failed to result in the positive outcome you expected? Perhaps your work search has taken longer than you’d hoped, been more demanding. A promising opportunity may have fallen through. Disappointment is a part of growth and change. Good coping strategies are the key to moving on.

Most of us are heavily invested in our work lives—whether we work in a traditional job or as entrepreneurs. The greater the emotional investment we make, the stronger the disappointment when things don’t turn out well.

Does it mean we should then lower our expectations and take fewer sound risks? No! We make no headway at all when we try to avoid the possibility of disappointment.

5 ways to cope with the pain of disappointment

1.  Handle the emotions first. Disappointment is emotionally supercharged. Hurt, sadness and anger are powerful feelings. Do you find it helps to recognize and acknowledge them, and let them just pass through?

Two tips. Get good physical activity. And talk with supportive friends and family to relieve some of that energy. We all need hope, help and encouragement in tough times. An outside perspective may be just the ticket.

2.  Reflect on the experience that has disappointed you. Without beating yourself up, is there something you could do better, differently next time? Can you better prepare? What did you learn that will help you?

3.  Revisit your goals and expectations. Are they realistic given the timetable you’re working from? Do you need to build in more time and resources to accomplish them? Is there another target that might make more sense? Are there different solutions?

4.  This is the time to think very creatively. Finding the right work calls for your wonderful resourcefulness. Is there another way to accomplish your goals—by taking a different approach, changing your presentation, how you position yourself? Should you try contacting new people and organizations? Is there a temporary workaround available to you?

5.  Be proactive in your own success. Press on. What seems like a defeat is merely a letdown. Setbacks don’t predict failure.

You’ll experience a number of disappointments on the path to finding your right work. Learn how you best recover your optimistic attitude and move on.

Every great work, every great accomplishment, has been brought into manifestation through holding to the vision, and often just before the big achievement, comes apparent failure and discouragement. -Florence Scovel Shinn

Today’s question

How do you regain your equilibrium and perspective after a challenging disappointment?