Why Rejection Can Be a Good Sign

One of the key messages from last week’s blog was: if you are pleasing everyone, you are captivating NO ONE.  Attempting to be accepted by the masses causes us to lose our unique edge, waste energy acting disingenuously, and be plain boring.

While rejection doesn’t feel good, it is a sign that we are taking action, putting ourselves out there, and living life to the fullest.  When looking at rejection from this perspective, it doesn’t seem so bad.

At a conference I attended recently, I heard someone say, “When you are ambitious, you get rejected a lot.”   I love this statement because it portrays rejection in a positive light instead of a negative one.

The truth is, proportionally, people who take risks and “go for it” doget rejected more.  And, they also get a lot more opportunities.

When we fear that dreaded “no”, we miss out on tons of opportunities.  Take a moment to think about a time when you neglected to ask for that promotion at work or for extra vacation time.  Or perhaps didn’t
approach that cute guy or girl at the party.  Or missed the chance to negotiate a better price, try out for the team, apply for a new role,  get a refund,  make that phone call, ask for what you wanted, or share your idea.

The list goes on and on.  And in most cases, the worst that can happen is that we are told “no” and life moves forward.   Where did we develop such a powerful fear of two little letters?

Where the fear originated is less important than taking a stand and making a decision TODAY to no longer let a fear of rejection be our master.  After all, rejection is one of the key indicators that we are ambitious, stepping up, and living life to the fullest.

So for the next 30 days, here is the challenge:

ASK.

That’s it.  When that voice in your head starts saying “Yeah, but….”, ignore it and go for what you want.  Get a “no” response?   So what.  Move forward.  Because if you get a “yes”, it just might change everything.

I would love to hear about your experiences in the comments section of the blog. As always, thank you for taking time to read this.

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