When you are feeling disappointed about the results you produced do you routinely ask yourself the questions:

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·    What am I really disappointed about?

·    Am I most disappointed about the results produced?

·    Or am I really disappointed because I gave up without really "fighting" for it. By that I clearly do not mean fighting with people. I mean fighting for it by doing all you can do and then some.

·    Did you question the assumptions?

·    If so, how effectively?

·    Did you think outside the box? It's difficult sometimes to think outside the box while simultaneously living with all of the constraints that people imagine exist.

·    Did you act out of fear and keeping your head down in these times or did you step up and appropriately question what needed to be questioned?

·    Did you lead when you needed to lead and follow when you needed to follow?

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Frequently in life and work, the greatest travesty is not missing 1 commitment, or not reaching 1 goal, or making 1 mistake. It will happen. We are human. The greatest travesty is the disappointment in yourself. Because, that unmet expectation to you, if left unaddressed, can cause an emotional spiral that impacts future commitments. So, what have done for yourself lately to set challenging and achievable goals? What are your expectations of yourself in all of this? What are you, as a team, doing to set challenging and achievable goals for the team? What are each team members' expectations of themselves?

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If you haven't asked yourself these questions lately, I invite you to take a few moments and do so. The responses might be insightful.

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·    Are you satisfied with how things are going in your personal life as well as your professional life? List the areas where you are satisfied

·    List the areas where you are not satisfied.

·    What are the common themes?

·    The last time something "blew up in your face", what specific action did you take to minimize the probability of it happening again?

·    The last time the team stumbled, are you pleased with how you all handled it? If you are, what did you do? If not, what did you do that you aren't proud of? What are you going to do differently the next time?

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Disappointment can be instructive if handled appropriately. Frequently disappointment in a business environment can lead to dips in morale, increase in frustration, more missed commitments and creating an overall environment of "maybe good enough" versus "the best we can be." So, what are two actions you can take, today, to improve your environment so disappointment is instructive and not destructive?

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