Why You Should Embrace Rejection

Among many other reasons that make sense, there is a master reason to welcome rejection instead of trying to avoid it: Because it’s inevitable.

Rejection is one possible outcome for every action you take. Yes, it’s best to expect a positive outcome and do everything feasible to make it happen. However, math, common sense and reasonable experience equally point to the potential of rejection.

There are other practical motives to consider rejection as a normal option in the process of making progress.

Firstly, should you accept it’s possible, you’ll not be taken by surprise when it happens. Accepting the possibility doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do everything to generate a positive result and have a winning attitude.

Basically, it allows you to keep your cool and focused mind in the driver seat, instead of diverting your energy towards thinking about the aftermath of rejection.

Think of focus like a very powerful laser beam that you can apply to one issue, at a time. And we all have a limited number of charges for a given timeframe. It takes time to recharge the focus beam. So make it count.

Another powerful reason to consider rejection welcomed is that it’s a healthy stepping stone on your improvement path. Imagine it as a quality checkpoint on a factory assembly line. It gives you valuable insights on how to improve, become more efficient, and adjust. Every time you face rejection, you're getting valuable feedback. You're learning what works and what doesn't. You're getting closer to figuring out the right approach.

Furthermore, the only way you can get better at anything is simply to do more iterations, assess each one, see what you need to fix/adjust/improve and do it again. I call this “The Mad Scientist Approach”(Please don’t forget to celebrate each and every small win, in between.)

Although it’s not based on statistically relevant research, but mainly on a vast empirical experience both of myself and thousands of other people I know and have worked with, I’ll say this: I don’t know any human being who pursued any major goal that did not experience rejection on their journey.

On a slightly different note, when you’re trying to avoid rejection, you’re actually postponing any other version of the potential result for your action, therefore you’re also postponing a potentially positive outcome.

Let me paint this through a simple example that I encountered many times when working with clients.

One is trying to launch a new business/product/expand/etc. Of course, there are two major potential outcomes, with various degrees of differences between them: success and rejection/failure.

A commonly asked question that supports postponing the results (both positive and negative)

But what if my product will not be good enough and I’ll get rejected by the target market?

Potential answer: Unless you can either travel into the future or predict it with utmost precision (impossible), there is no useful answer to that. It’s just talking. Only actions have effective power.

Nobody knows what will happen in the future. Period.

Let's recap the 3 reasons why you should embrace rejection:

1. Rejection helps you focus. When you accept that rejection is possible, you don't waste energy worrying about it. You can stay focused on your goals and keep moving forward.
2. Rejection helps you improve. Every rejection is an opportunity to learn and grow. Use it as a chance to reflect on what you can do differently next time.
3. Rejection is a sign that you're trying. If you're not facing rejection, you're not putting yourself out there. Embrace rejection as a sign that you're taking risks and pursuing your goals.

I’ll conclude with a quote from the great stoic Marcus Aurelius

“It’s time you realized that you have something in you more powerful and miraculous than the things that affect you and make you dance like a puppet.” – Marcus Aurelius

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