Overcoming Rejection Like a Boss

In a word, don’t.

There’s a myth out there that when you’re applying for jobs, pursuing creative projects, or trying to create an audience for your work, you must learn to “fight through” the pain of endless rejection. All the greats do it. They pay their dues. You must learn to pick yourself up after failures and just keep going, and all that stuff.

Nope, I say.

At its core, the whole concept of “rejection” assumes your inferiority to other human beings, and that notion is plain garbage.

Here’s the secret. It’s not “rejection”: it’s someone else providing you with the incorrect result. That’s all. If you keep focused on the right result, tweaking your behaviour to attain it as you go, you do away with the idea that there’s anything to “deal with” or “fight through.” You completely bypass the whole psychological nexus of failure, opting instead to carve a path to success.

Just ignore the incorrect results and be scientific about finding your way to the correct ones. Dealing with rejection is a waste of valuable time, and it chews up mental energy that’s better dedicated to being the spectacular, awesome, fireball of a human being you are meant to be. Be it!