Things may not end up working our way without our control, this should not discourage us from future projects. We are taught not to look back and think that maybe if I did this or that then things may have been different. Using the word if is dangerous as that will bring in regret and make us think of the different paths that we could have took; the important thing for us is that we have learnt something from the experience. Even if we do not see this experience as successful in terms of money or whatnot it may be seemed as successful in other ways e.g. gaining more knowledge or bettering the relationship with Allah which can bring blessing in many ways.
As muslims our relief for situations like this is Qadr which is a belief that whatever Allah decrees is what happens. In a sense this would be classed as pre destination but this should never be used to justify future actions but it should be used to console past tragedies.