You didn’t hear from me last week for two reasons. One, I was on vacation and two, I was too disappointed to write.

I didn’t make my income goal for the quarter. It’s discouraging because I just came off my best quarter ever and so I had a lot of momentum and excitement. I had a plan, I executed, I nailed the details – but the results just weren’t there. Such a let down. Plus, I’ve increased the size of my team so I felt not only disappointed for myself but also disappointed for them. But mostly because I finally, for the first time ever, had my processes and systems dialed. Of course, nothing is ever perfect, there were glitches here and there but for me, it was pretty awesome. Well of course, except for my lackluster results.

So just in case, you have suffered a disappointment in your own business recently here’s how I handled it. I’m sharing this because this isn’t by any means the first time I’ve been disappointed along my entrepreneurial adventure but this was certainly the time I took it the best.

#1 Talk about it.

Clearly, I’m in an accountability group. I made the goal there and so I shared my results and we talked it through. There was a small part of me that didn’t want to show up, didn’t want to tell the truth, didn’t want to be seen. But I did. I reported my results and I immediately felt better. I had a stellar weeks, that they didn’t add up to my big result was a bummer, but because I had put in the work I didn’t feel any self-reproach. I also talked about it to my husband. The person I least want to disappoint in the world aside from my children and he could not have been more  supportive and he asked some really smart questions that got me thinking of ways to improve. He helped me dig into my business and I was open to it. I was open to it because I wasn’t busy beating myself up. I also shared it with my sister and my best friend. Thank god for girlfriends.  

#2 Let it go – for real.

On day 1 of my vacation, I announced that I was depressed. Of course I didn’t want to be depressed but there was no denying that I was so I just sat with it. I did not, and this is a big did not, let my mind go wild with negative thinking. I shut it down whenever I noticed it happening but it did take a lot of effort and I think that was mostly what made me feel depressed. That and the fact that I so badly wanted to be popping a bottle of champagne and celebrating my results and toasting (virtually) with my team. On day 2, I woke up and decided I was done. I could choose to hold on and continue feeling badly or let it go and enjoy my precious time with my family. Not enjoying the time that I had set aside for family and fun is too much of a waste for me to handle, so I let it go. Thank goodness because I would have missed out on enjoying one of my favorite trips ever. 

#3 Learn from it.

When I got home I started to look at what happened. Why were my results different from the previous quarter? What went better, what went worse? I found 3 areas of improvement and plan to tackle those in the next quarter.

I know it sounds simple, but each step is hard. It’s hard to talk to people, especially if you feel like you are letting them down. It’s hard to let it go. You will have to really lean into your gratitude and depending on your situation that might be a far reach. But do it because when you do, you can find the nuggets. You can learn from what happened. It might be that underneath the disappointment is the exact information you need to go bigger than you ever imagined.