Economists don’t traditionally talk much about disappointment. You could go through an entire economic textbook and not find the concept of disappointment mentioned even once. Yet a great deal of our economic success, both individually and collectively, depends on how we respond to disappointment.
Disappointment happens after we put a great deal of energy toward a particular outcome. It doesn’t matter so much what form the energy takes, or what form the disappointment takes. The important question is what happens to the energy. When disappointment leaves us stunned, that is when it causes the greatest difficulty. It means all the energy we had put into something has dissipated.
When you are stunned by disappointment it is hard to keep perspective. Yesterday Joe Vitale wrote a personal story about this in order to emphasize one way of keeping perspective, by remembering how much things can change:
If you’re in a place right now that doesn’t feel so good or seem too safe, I urge you to remind yourself that this is only temporary.
This is the cure for despair.
As I say in my book, The Attractor Factor, this is simply current reality, and current reality can change.
You can help it along by doing what you know and need to do.
But remember, the sun will shine again.
It always does.
