Rejection, it happens to all of us. Whether it’s out of nowhere or expected it feels about the same. Color seems to fade from the world and we fight to catch our breaths. It could be a job interview, a new customer, a love interest, rejection from any of them hurts. Big or small ‘no’ it’s a blow to the bedrock of our confidence. Here is a 3 step process to overcome rejection.
- Stop – Don’t do anything. Take a deep breath and a moment to collect yourself. Anything you do now is reactionary and could have some dire consequences.
- Think – Once you have calmed down think about what just happened. Why did they say ‘no?’ Is there a way you can change their ‘no’ to a ‘yes?’ If you think you can change their answer put together a plan to do so. If you don’t think you can change their answer put together a plan of how to make you, your plan, or your proposal more enticing for the next time.
- Act - Don’t just sit around, do something! You have a plan now follow it!
I used to envy those people who would just cruise through rejection moving on to the next before the dust has settled from the last. Then I realized that they are just playing the odds, like a gambler at the one armed bandit hoping for things to line up Jackpot!, and aren’t learning anything.
They end up blaming the other person, finding fault with them, or justifying the ‘no’ with some nebulous reason. Instead of acting on the one thing they can change, themselves, they try to bend the unbendable will of the other, an act which results we are all well familiar with.
My parents always told me to ‘learn from your mistakes’ and while rejection might not be a mistake you can definitely learn from it. So remember the next time someone says ‘no,’ Stop, Think, and then Act. The simple 3 step process will help you to overcome rejection and lead to more ‘yes’s’ in the future.
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