Rejection Proof

Picture this scenario. You’ve a great, six-figure job at a Fortune 500 company, a wonderful spouse and own a 3,700-square-foot house.

Sounds pretty fantastic, right?

This was the author’s life, yet he was still unhappy because he was too scared to realize his true calling: to become a world-class entrepreneur.   

It’s not so hard to get yet another job or promotion, but not pursuing your lifelong dream is a heavy burden to bear.

The author’s wife realized that he was unhappy, and advised him to take six months off to set up his dream company and work as hard as he could to make it a success. If by the end of the period the company still had no investors, he could always go back to his old career.

This deadline approach is effective, as it minimizes risk and forces you to set fixed goals and time limits. After a trial period, you can either keep going, or call it off.

To better your chances of success, though, you need another trick up your sleeve. You have to find your own way of handling rejection.

The author’s vision was to create a personal development app that helped people achieve their goals. As a newbie entrepreneur, the author assembled a team of skilled engineers to build the gamification app of which he had dreamed.

But still, he needed an investor to get his company off the ground. He and his team rehearsed their sales pitch for weeks, yet in the end, the investor unfortunately said “no.”

The author found he wasn’t very good at dealing with rejection. So to deal with his fear head-on, he resolved to embark on a 100-day rejection journey, blogging and recording video to chronicle his experience.

Though the author’s journey was unorthodox, the lessons he learned during his challenge are certainly applicable to anyone who wants to better understand and cope with rejection.