You’ve experienced it before.

Dashed hopes. Disappointing results. Heartbreak. All in the pursuit of a dream.

As human beings, we all know what disappointment feels like. But while some accept defeat and give up on their goals and dreams, others use their disappointment to create new paths to achieve their goals – and they often succeed beyond their wildest expectations.

So what sets them apart from the average person? They’ve found effective ways to deal with their disappointment, and so can you by doing the following five things:

1. Write down your goals

Most of us struggle to get clear on our goals. We’re content to let our deepest desires exist in vague form. We fail to make them specific, write them down, and give them a timeline.

But people who survive disappointment do so with the help of their clearly written goals. They know that clear goals provide a…