Curious people bounce back faster because they’re too busy wondering what went wrong to sulk about it.

Both responses to a setback cost about the same energy and point in opposite directions. Sulking runs the event again and again without adding anything, while asking what happened turns it into material. Curiosity also moves the subject from you to the situation, which takes the sting down considerably. Recovery is quicker because attention has somewhere to go.

After the next thing that does not work out, allow yourself the sulk and put a limit on it. Then list what actually happened, in order, with no verdict about yourself attached. The question is what occurred, not what it says about you.