I am on a journey to become a great entrepreneur, drinking the smoothie blended with Steve Job’s charisma, Chris Gardner’s tenacity, Paul Graham’s judgment, Bill Gate’s ruthlessness, Warren Buffett’s longevity, and Marc Zuckerberg’s vision (or luck). However, since I’m not born with most of these traits, I need to acquire them through exercise, one-by-one.
To start, I’m tackling the low hanging fruit first. One thing I know for sure is that, like most of you, I’m terrified of rejection. No, not in a romantic sense, as I’m extremely happily married. However, I hate being judged and rejected in a business setting, whether it’s being turned down when making a sale, or getting blasted after a pitch. I hate it! I hate it like Michelle Obama hates sleeves.
Now, I posted this question on the FounderDating forum (a fantastic community for startup founders) and its community manager, Hayden Tay (@HaydenTay) suggested Rejection Therapy. The idea is to seek one rejection on purpose everyday for 30 days, and thus desensitize oneself from the pain. Now that’s a fun idea! Not only I want to do it, but I will vlog it, and do it for 100 days. I won’t use any suggestion cards, but come up with stuff as I go for more fun. If you have any suggestions, let me know through email: jia at souplus.com, or twitter @jiajiang. My goal is that 100 days from now, I will be a fearless badass who couldn’t care less about rejection and judgment.
This is Rejection Therapy Day 1 – asking to borrow $100 from a stranger.
Great idea- 100 rejections in 100 days. I have a hunch you will get the point before you hit 100.
and I don’t think you will
… sorry, cut off from my last comment. But it probably wouldn’t be realistic to expect to not care at all about rejection because that would mean you just don’t care at all. But worrying less is certainly a worthy goal. Congrats on your courage to try and your courage to blog about. And def don’t worry about the age thing. I’m 40 and finally starting to crush it after 13 years of various attempts. Don’t believe the hype, it ain’t easy and most stories you hear about success are just that… stories. Cheers, Alex
Thanks Alex for your encouragement! I will still care for sure, but I hope it won’t feel scary anymore.
After you asked the guy for the money, he replied, asking you “why?”, but you walked away. What is you would have conversed further with him and elaborated more? He may have just given it to you.
That’s the point! We are looking for rejection here, not acceptance…
And I would hope it is rejected that is not just assumed but real. Explain and don’t walk away. Give it your best shot and let rejection be when they turn away from you.
Love this idea. So much.
I think this is going to be different from reality. Here you are expecting a rejection & once he rejects, you feel successful. In real world, you get rejected when you really want it to be accepted.
I agree. You are getting the rejections you want but when you dont want it, and you get it, you still wont like it. Try rejections that are more realistic
I view this as shooting free-throws in basketball. Practice in a dark gym will be different from doing it in front of 20K people when the game is on the line. But it’s the practice that makes the real thing happen.
Pingback: eKG Consulting - Rejection Therapy
You’re awesome