We will experience disappointment, setback and criticism.  The setback will slow our momentum.  Disappointment and criticism will take away our will to continue.  Our eye on the goal will be replaced by our eye on the exit.  How we respond will determine whether we succeed or fail.

Some suggestions to survive a bad day:

Ease the pressure

Don’t try to fix it – at least not today.  Whatever the setback was, it is done.  A cooler head can plan a new course around the roadblock.  A decision under pressure may have been one cause of the bad news, and making more decisions now will probably make it worse.

Leave the battle

Don’t dwell on or analyze the problem, it will just become an obsessive blame game, and most likely we will blame ourselves.  Take a break, take a walk, take the rest of the day off.  Refuse to think about the cause of the problem.  We will think more clearly when we distract ourselves.  The problem will still be there when we return.

As we calm down, and we are out of the “pressure cooker”, things become clearer.  Away from the battle field, solutions begin to creep in.  We are now working on solving a remote problem, not immersed in an engulfing catastrophe. 

Don’t play the martyr

Was it really only our fault?  Was the setback the result of events outside of our control?  Were we totally responsible?  Did we make decisions based on information given us?  Was there information we did not know?  We are not magicians and don’t have ESP. 

Did we do our part and perform all the tasks we were responsible for, on time, to get to a good outcome?  Maybe others had a part in the setback. 

Don’t volunteer for undeserved blame when everyone else is looking to find victims.  We need to analyze our part and the part others played.  We could wind up heroes if we can analyze the problem so it doesn’t happen again, plan the repair and return to course.

Don’t generalize or simplify

Resist the inclination to simplify the setback as personally caused and therefore never to be tried again.  Resist the life sentence of failure.  History is filled with stories of famous people who are famous because they refused to give up. 

There is wisdom in the philosophy to remount a horse that has just thrown us.  Returning to the battle after a short period of rest and reflection shows character, determination, and refusal to surrender. 

Wear the armor

We are a world that thrives on retribution.  After a setback, people will be pointing fingers – away from themselves, and toward any likely target.  The armor of course, is symbolic but can protect us anyway. 

Our first priority is our self-esteem.  Write down why this turned out to be a bad day—all the reasons.  Be factual.  Then write down what we are grateful for.  Put it into perspective.  Adopt a positive attitude.  This is our shield. 

Write down what we were responsible for and what was to be accomplished.  If we failed on a point, this is no time to avoid it.  It will sound better coming from us than an accuser.  And believe me, they will find it.  

Write down how to fix the setback and return to course.  If someone else failed and caused the setback, describe the event, not the person.  Everyone will know who it is.  This is our sword, don’t be afraid to show it. 

Discussing and documenting a setback and solution logically restarts our motivation and our will to continue to a successful goal.

This technique works whether the setback is on a group project, or a personal one.  Sometimes personal setbacks are the worst kind.  There is no one else to blame, and the accuser can be more vicious than any other.

Command a vital life. Live free.

The critics are voicing their petty jealousy.  People like that can generally be heard issuing negative comments any time someone else gets rewarded.  They deserve our pity. 

Perhaps it is really not jealousy.  There is a fine line between jealousy and envy.  Jealousy and envy both are emotions that refer to negative thoughts and feelings of insecurity.  Jealousy involves fear of loss to another of something valuable.  Envy involves resentment of something valuable given to another, especially if they feel the receiving person did not deserve it.   

Whether jealousy or envy, it is a negative emotion that paints the critic an ugly shade of green. 
 

The Critics

Google “Obama Nobel peace prize” and read the nearly 20 million articles pro and con as to whether our president should have received the award. 

The best thing about this country is everyone’s Constitutional right to offer an opinion, no matter the viewpoint.  It is one of our national entertainments. 

Culling out the harshly negative comments from the Arab world like the Taliban, Al Qaeda, and other Obama-haters like Republican party leader Rush Limbaugh and other conservatives (big surprise), reactions are mixed between “too early” and congratulations.  

As a side note, it is encouraging that American conservatives and the Taliban have finally found something to agree on. 

Breaking with his conservative colleagues, Arizona Senator John McCain congratulated the president and said Americans should be pleased with the award. 

The Nobel Committee

Thorbjorn Jagland, chair of the committee and a former Norwegian prime minister, rejected critics underestimating the definite changes Obama has already made in U.S. policy.

During the announcement press conference in Oslo, Jagland declared that the Committee wanted to demonstrate support for the approaches Obama is taking toward global problems.  ”We are not awarding the prize for what may happen in the future but for what [Obama] has done in the previous year.”  

Jagland ”stressed that it [the Committee] made its decision based on Mr. Obama’s actual efforts toward nuclear disarmament as well as American engagement with the world relying more on diplomacy and dialogue.”

Norwegians have been entrusted with choosing the Nobel Peace prizewinner because of their track record as objective arbitrators.   Obama was selected from a record 205 nominations. 

Many critics offer their opinions due to political party affiliation or to get attention through negative reviews.  The critics may think they are doing a service by pointing out a truth, but the ugliness of envy they hold inside always shows through. 

There is many times a tinge of envy when some else wins a prize that we fantasize should go to someone else (perhaps even us).  In the case of the Peace prize, we should avoid speaking out critically and showing our green envy because, after all, it is the Nobel committee’s prize to give.

The Peace prize is an award to our entire nation, given to our president as the leader.  According to the Nation Brand Index, the USA jumped from 7th to 1st of the most admired countries list (never before achieved) because all Americans elected Obama.  The list shows that the world sees the USA with a new respect.  

Obama in his 9 months in office, has completely changed America’s foreign policy, is making us reengage and lead on major global challenges and has done more to promote peace and stability than anyone else in recent times.  The prize rewards our nation where something profound is happening. 

This is a time to be proud of this country and of America’s renewed status as leader of the free world.

We all know the President has a lot more work to do. Let us all congratulate him as well as ourselves for the award and leave the jealousy and negative rhetoric to those petty others who look to tear down anything good that happens to anyone else.  

 
The Nobel Prize

Since 1901, the Nobel Prize has been honoring men and women without regard to nationality for outstanding achievements in physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, and for effective work in furthering peace.

The foundation for the award was when Alfred Nobel (scientist, inventor, entrepreneur, author and pacifist) wrote his last will in 1895, leaving roughly the equivalent of 250 million dollars U.S. for the establishment of the Nobel Prize from the interest gathered.  

Nobel owned a major armaments factory and was the inventor of dynamite.  He found a safe method to manufacture and use nitroglycerin by blending it with absorbent diatomaceous earth (cat litter). 

He was condemned by many as the “merchant of death” who “became rich by finding ways to kill more people faster than ever before” and this opinion is said to have influenced his decision to leave himself a better legacy after his death.  

To achieve that legacy, he provided in his will that the Peace prize should go “to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between the nations and the abolition or reduction of standing armies and the formation and spreading of peace congresses.”

The Nobel Committee’s interpretation of his guidelines has broadened over the years. The prize is now awarded not only for concentrated efforts to bring peace between nations, but also to combat poverty, disease and recently, climate change. 

The Peace prize is not a lifetime achievement award.  It doesn’t require recipients to completely succeed in their efforts.  Many have received the prize without solving the problem they had worked toward ending.  There were also years the Nobel Peace prize was not awarded. 

 
Recipients

There are many Nobel Peace Prize Recipients who have been received the award for their work in improving our world, including using nuclear energy for peaceful instead of military purposes, and awareness of man-made climate change.  Those issues as well as others are still incomplete, yet the prize was awarded. 

President Theodore Roosevelt won it in 1906 and President Woodrow Wilson was given the prize in 1919.   Obama is the third sitting U.S. president to win the Nobel Peace prize.

Jimmy Carter won it 2002, but was not in office at the time. Former Vice-President Al Gore was awarded the prize in 2007 for his efforts to raise awareness about global warming. 

Command a vital life. Live free.