It’s day 2 of my series of posts based on Jinny Ditzler’s ‘Your Best Year Yet’ and the second question to reflect on is: what were your biggest disappointments of last year?
First up, you’ll probably end up with more disappointments than successes on your list. That doesn’t mean you’re a failure, it just means you’re human. Remember we’re wired to focus on the negative stuff that happens, we’re more alert to threats than safety, and so we tend to overlook things that have gone well.
We also tend to avoid deliberately thinking about disappointment, it’s not very comfortable so sometimes it’s easier to pretend it all didn’t happen. What we forget is that we often learn a lot from our mistakes and disappointments and so it’s really worth spending time reflecting on them. So it’s good to just sit with that discomfort and recognise that sometimes things don’t go well and think about why they went wrong.
Your disappointments might be things you did or didn’t do, but they could also be things others did or didn’t do. It’s OK to acknowledge that you might have been let down, but as you’re reflecting ask yourself whether there is anything you could have done differently. What did you contribute to the situation or problem? But be careful not to fall into the trap of blaming yourself or thinking it’s all your fault!
Here are some ideas:
• Plans that didn’t work out
• Relationships that didn’t go well
• People you lost, who died or just withdrew from your life for some reason
• Things you lost
• Problems in your career or your business
• Not having enough time to do the things you wanted.
• Maybe you had too much time on your hands and didn’t like it
• Perhaps you ate too much, drank too much, didn’t exercise enough and generally didn’t look after yourself well
Be honest, remember nobody else needs to see or know what disappointed you last year but if you do feel like sharing then feel free to DM or email me.
Here’s what disappointed me last year: I didn’t get to take a holiday which led to a slow recovery from illness and a month off work. What did I contribute to that? Poor self care and taking too much on. Some friends haven’t been in touch since I moved, but then I haven’t been in touch with them and was a bit unavailable just before we moved. Business wise, my I didn’t hit my enquiry target because I don’t always give marketing and keeping in touch the attention they need.
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