October 11

Disappointment

You invest tremendous time, energy, and emotional engagement into work that you don’t know for certain will succeed. You may do your best to create something that others will find valuable, but in the end, no matter what you do, there will be times when it simply doesn’t work. You will fall short of your expectations.

In those moments, disappointment can begin to whisper in your ear. “I told you so,” or “It was destined to fail,” or “You were never good enough,” can begin to play like a soundtrack in your mind. You can begin to lose hope and confidence in your abilities.

Friends, don’t allow disappointment to devolve into despair. There is a difference between “I have failed,” and “I am a failure,” but it’s easy to allow the latter to obsess your mind when you fall short.

Though you may not want to recognize it, when you choose to do creative work, you are choosing to engage in work that is uncertain, chal- lenging, and likely often to result in failure. Don’t allow the narratives in your head to cause you to play it safe just to avoid the disappointment of falling short. If you never take the shot, you never hit the game winner.

In creative work, disappointment is inevitable. Don’t allow “I failed,” to become “I’m a failure.”

QUESTION

Where are you experiencing disappointment right now? Are there any unhealthy narratives playing in your head?