If you don’t ask you will not receive. Yet you will not ask because you are afraid of rejection. I am here to tell you that rejection is a myth. It’s a fantasy and it’s emotional. You feel rejected when you don’t get the date, are picked for the basketball team, lose out on the promotion, or don’t make the sale.
You didn’t get the part in the play, get into the college you wanted, or that pretty person over there said no. I will say it again rejection is a myth. It doesn’t exist. It’s a concept that you hold in your head.
The Myth
Think about it. If you ask me to dinner and I say no… what did you really lose? Before you asked me I wasn’t having dinner with you and after you asked me, I am still not having dinner with you. What did you lose? Nothing! Your situation did not get worse did it? Whether you asked or not you still aren’t having dinner with me. Get it?
The situation only gets worse by the way you respond to my answer. Adding negative thoughts, feelings, and words to your perceived rejections makes it worse. If you are a real estate agent and you ask for the listing and the answer is no. Did you have the listing in the first place? No! You are still in the same position. You don’t have the listing. Nothing has changed. It’s up to you to go ask for more listings. Sulking in your office will not get you more business.
Famous Rejections
There are constant stories about people who overcame rejection:
Jack Canfield spent two years and 140 rejections trying to get Chicken Soup for the Soul published.
Michael Jordan didn’t make his high school basketball team.
Steven Spielberg was rejected twice by USC Film School.
Yahoo rejected the founders of Google when they wanted to merge.
JK Rowlings, author of the Harry Potter Books was rejected 12 Times
These people rejected rejection.
SWSWSWSW
You are an entrepreneur. You will face no’s every day. The key is to keep pushing forward. Remember the mantra SWSWSWSW, which stands for “some will, some won’t, so what, and someone is waiting.” Your clients are out there waiting to buy from you. Your mastermind group wants to connect with you. People want to help you. Be consistent every day in finding those people.
Next
Get used to the word no and get used to saying, “Next”. There is going to be a lot of rejection on the way to business. The secret is not to give up and keep asking. I send out emails, write my blogs, do my speeches, and market every day. Also, people buy and sometimes they don’t. My posts get shared and sometimes they don’t. But I keep going. If I don’t stay persistent some other entrepreneur will get my clients.
Persist and persevere until the end. It might take 10, 20, 30, 50, or 100 calls to get want you want. There is a story of a woman who made 90 calls to get people to an event. She had 81 straight rejections but after the 81st call, the last 9 people signed up.
If you are committed to being in the top 20% of your industry you need to learn how to reject rejection. Rejection is a myth just like purple unicorns and magic buttons. Remember nothing changes if the person tells you no. You are in the same position as before. The difference is your response and how you move forward.
1 thought on “Rejection Is a Myth”