The Setback And The Setforward

What is a setforward?

It’s a word I made up to mean “the opposite of a setback”.

A setback is normally when things we’re working on are tediously pushed back for reasons seemingly beyond our control. Something went wrong, an unexpected thing happened. We encountered a ‘setback’.

A setforward is another way of looking at the same thing.

A failed presentation or investment opportunity is a setback if we feel it should have succeeded, but it didn’t. But if we make peace with the fact that we can’t control external forces, instead getting to work on refining the presentation or learning from the investment opportunity, we have ourselves a setforward.

A financial blow is a setback if we feel we were somehow owed the funds we no longer have. But if we make peace with the fee and get it processed so we can move on with creating more resources, it’s a setforward.

Setback looks back longingly.

Setforward looks for the forward momentum.

Which direction would you prefer to give your attention?