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Facing a setback is always painful. When you put in X amount of effort you except Y or Z results. When you do all of the right things, whatever that means for you, you don’t feel that you deserve some total wrecking ball coming in out of nowhere and shattering all of your hard work. But, that is going to happen sometimes. If you plan on a lifetime of pursuing your dreams then, sometimes, there will be hurdles that feel very unfair. I imagine the COVID-19 pandemic felt like a huge setback for many – and one that nobody did anything to deserve. Think of all of the people who were on the brink of greatness at the start of 2020, who had everything they were looking forward to canceled. Maybe for a few years. Maybe forever. But you know what makes someone truly great? It’s not a lack of setbacks, because if you study anyone really impressive, you’ll learn that they had plenty of those. What makes someone truly great is how they deal with setbacks. That’s what sets the haves and the have-nots apart. Setbacks are inevitable. Setbacks are things you almost cannot control. What you can control is how you respond to them, and that’s what will determine your success. Here are healthy and unhealthy ways to deal with setbacks.
Find fault in those in charge
The judges who didn’t give you first place. The boss who didn’t promote you. The company who didn’t hire you. The publisher who didn’t buy your book. You just start digging into their flaws. You start tearing them apart – maybe to their faces, maybe to yourself or to anyone who will listen. You seek reasons they are inherently dumb and broken, and why their decision was a mistake.
