Want to know something that is guaranteed in life?
It’s super exciting....drum roll please. It’s this:
You are going to be told NO. Probably a lot. Unless you never try anything of course. And even then, you’re just telling yourself no.
My first memorable rejection was in junior high. Over 2 decades ago. I still remember. It stung back then, but pales in comparison to other no’s I’ve faced.
If you are going to pursue anything of value in life, you might as well prepare to be turned down.
I work with the prison population and those facing the obstacles of reentering society and I have this conversation often.
Different scenario, same concept.
You might as well prepare yourself for a hundred no’s.
Shake off the discouragement. Don’t for a second buy into the lie that it reflects your value.
The next try might be the try. The yes after countless no’s.
And you will never know unless you put yourself out there.
We often place way too much value on what other people think of us.
We are tempted to pay too much attention to the likes.
It can be paralyzing.
I watched a video recently of a guy who had a goal of growing his restaurant to the number one restaurant on trip advisor.
He learned how to do this through a paid job of writing fake reviews for restaurants and the observation that his fake reviews were causing a ridiculous increase in revenue for these companies.
So he created a fake restaurant with fake reviews and his efficiency apartment as the location. The outcome?
After months and months, it grew to be the number one restaurant on trip advisor in all of London.
The obvious problem being that the restaurant wasn’t really a restaurant at all. It was an efficiency apartment with microwaveable lasagna on the menu.
The moral of the story? Don’t fall for all the hype. Don’t fall for the likes. Don’t get sucked into creating for the sake of an audience.
Be authentic. Create because it’s what’s inside of you and not for the applaud of others.
Then the approval of others doesn’t matter so much and the potential rejection propels you forward instead of sending you into a downward spiral.
Someday you might be thankful for that no you received. It may just put you closer to your yes.
Story reference: Vice Video