#Disappointment March 5

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March 2026 marks the 75th consecutive month that Jeff Neelon, Jaclyn Donovan, and I have completed a 30-Day Coach4aday Challenge. For this milestone month, we’ve chosen to focus on teaching. Each day for 30 days, we will share one lesson, principle, or insight gained from the previous 74 challenges—calling it the 30-Day Coach4aday Teach It Challenge. For each of us we believe that our own personal growth increases when we share it.

Today my shared lesson is on dealing with DISAPPOINTMENT.

“Teach It” 30 Day Challenge Guidelines

In past challenges, we invited others to join us, though participation has been limited. This month, the three of us will return to January 2020—the very beginning—and move forward to the present, reflecting along the way and sharing a life lesson or insight from any month with one another.

Here is how we will do it.

1. Identify the principle, insight, or lesson from a previous 30-Day Challenge-identify the Challenge also.
2. Teach that lesson to each of us.
3. Share the conversation by posting on social media with the hashtag #Coach4adayChallenge

Day 5-Disappointment

In October 2022 I composed a post on what professional disappointment taught me. That event reminded then of a quote I utilized when coaching a basketball team. There is no winning and losing only winning and learning.

We all face disappointment, and it’s natural for it to stir up emotions. The best way to handle these feelings is to focus on what we can learn from the experience—the lesson that the defeat is offering. When we invest ourselves emotionally or physically into something and it doesn’t turn out as we hoped, it can be painful. But within that sting, there’s often growth to be found.

Lessons for Disappointing Events

1. That not every outcome in sales, sports, relationships, or promotions is fair. Some factors in why a decision are made are totally out of your control.
2. That having acceptance on an event or outcome is a place that allows a leader a state of mind to learn and grow.
3. That maybe I need more practice in what was involved. What can I get better at?

One spiritual lesson that I have revisited time and time again is that God often closes one door to open another for us. We have to recognize that future opportunity it is often disguised as a present-day disappointment.