Guest Post | How to Overcome Rejection

This week on the blog we have Carrie Grace – a motivational speaker who travels the United States on a mission to leave the world better than she found it. She recently completed a rejection challenge where she spent 30 days purposely getting rejected! Sound hard to you? I’m sure it wasn’t an easy task – but she’s sharing what she’s learned with us! Read below for her lessons learned and how they can apply to your business and life.

My fifth grade teacher was rather harsh, which is saying things nicely. She had this rubber stamp with the words “REJECTED” on it, which she would stamp in bright red ink on kids’ papers who did the work incorrect. It was in her classroom that I grew to fear the word rejection. I always worked extra hard to get the answers right and wrote my work very neatly as to avoid the public shaming of both the teacher and fellow students.

However, thanks to that rubber stamp, I started to play it too safe and missed out on opportunities. The fear of rejection is the very thing that will keep you on the sidelines and not on the playing field. I’ve talked to countless business owners, marketers, entrepreneurs, and they all say that fear is what holds them back. I let a silly red stamp when I was 10 years old prevent me from taking risks well into adulthood.

This year, I decided that I would show rejection who the boss is. I set out on a challenge that I shared on YouTube of me purposely getting rejected each day for 30 days straight. It was quite possibly the best thing I’ve ever done for myself. I learned a lot about myself, about why people tell someone no, and how to get back up and keep going forward. Below are a few lessons I learned along the way:

4 Keys Lessons About Rejection

It’s rarely about YOU.

It’s rarely about you is a hard pill to swallow. We live in a very “me” culture these days and it’s easy to make things about us, even when they aren’t. No one (besides the Grinch) actually enjoys crushing peoples’ dreams or giving people big fat no’s. You usually get told no because you weren’t the best fit for the opportunity, or it wasn’t the best timing, or it isn’t something they offer at the moment. There could be a millions reasons why it wasn’t you that has zero to do with you!

Be Grateful for the NO.

This is a HUGE mistake people make when they get told no or rejected from a dream opportunity. People tend to burn bridges or make strained relationships as a result. The best thing you can be is grateful for the opportunity that you were given even if it wasn’t you who got picked. My best advice is to find stationary or cards and handwrite a note to the decision maker or the gatekeeper. Thank them for taking the time interviewing, answering your questions, presenting you with an opportunity, etc. There are great success stories of people writing a handwritten card and 6 months later getting a call and getting offered a dream position. Plus, it leaves people thinking positive thoughts about you, and the world is very small, so you never know whom they are connected to.

Better is Ahead.

We tend to get tunnel vision when it comes to dreams and goals. We have no idea how one lost opportunity could lead to a handful of better things. If you get told no or overlooked for a promotion, get back up. It’s easy to feel a hit to your ego, but staying down does nothing for you. Continue to look forward towards all the possible opportunities that you haven’t even been presented with just yet!

Practice, Practice, Practice.

In order to be good at anything in life, you have to practice it over and over. Rejection falls into that same category. You will only be good at receiving it, if you learn to receive it well a lot over time. It sounds crazy, but you have to get rejected enough to get comfortable with it. So, set some time aside each day for a week and give yourself a mini rejection challenge. Try and get 7 no’s and see how you feel at the end of the week. I’m willing to bet you are going to be a bigger risk taker after doing so!

About the author

Carrie Grace is a former teacher turned motivational speaker. She is on a mission to inspire others to spread joy and kindness, in hopes of people making the world better than they found it. She’s been known to love big; having thrown a party on an airplane, passed out free ice cream to strangers, and loves to encourage anyone who crosses her path. She also teaches people how to take big risks to bridge the gap between the life they have and the life they want. She currently travels the country inspiring others and has she’s been featured on major media including USA Today, Huffington Post, His Radio, and many more. You can find her on Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.

Categorised in: Guest Blogs, Thoughtful Thursdays