I think it was comedian, Jimmy Carr, who said that happiness is your current situation minus expectations. Perhaps he stole this from someone else. Either way, it feels true. Jannik Sinner, having lost to Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals of the Australian Open looks devastated. Professional athletes tend to be when they lose. My thirty years in high performance sport has shown me that the ability to recover from disappointment is such a crucial part of being a high performance athlete. Most are going to lose…they’re going to lose a lot! Most have to experience an overwhelm of emotion following a loss and then very quickly go again. Go again Go again Go again Easy to say. Devilishly difficult to do. The sensorial memory of loss can linger in mind and body. The stinging sense of defeat can emotionally burden for some time. And so the ability to flex and shift back to high mastery and a high performance mindset with speed is critical. The same holds in the corporate world. Disappointments aplenty - that missed job opportunity, that lost account, that failed pitch - none of these can be allowed to cripple enthusiasm. None of these can be allowed to render you ‘actionless’. But that’s hard! And so back to Jimmy Carr. Happiness is your current situation less expectation. Direct your expectation appropriately. “All I expect from myself is to start and stay in a high performance mindset. All I expect from myself is to deliver in my competitive persona. All I expect from myself is my competitive process. That’s all!” The greatest athletes must expect great things from themselves. But for mood regulation and to remain mastery-oriented, those expectations must be aspects they can control…