If you are an entrepreneur at heart, truth is that you have faced many rejections. If you are a sale person, you have experienced your fair share. If you are a writer, you more likely have faced more rejections than many other. Why do some seem to survive it better than other?
The fact is that even the ones who bounce back and keep going, are affected by the rejections.
But, they have mastered a few tools to help them recover after a rejection.
How do you face another day after a rejection?
1. Don’t be too emotional.
As is often said, “it is not personal, it is business”. Exactly, that is what it is. It is business. Unless you were totally unprofessional, there might be a mountain of reasons why it did not work this time around. It really is not always about you – do not take it too personally. It might also be one hundred percent about you and you might have to thank your lucky starts that you got rejected.
2. Weigh up your chances before the time.
Be realistic and determine your chances even before you walk in. Your gut will tell you if you are taking a big chance here, or if you are in the running. Know your chances, and if you feel that you want to make a go of it, go for it. Let no one stop you. If it does not work out, then it did not. If you never try the answer will always be no. But you will walk out with knowledge - even if it is only how not to.
3. Push your boundaries.
If you had been rejected, know that you have taken a chance. Well done, you have taken the bull by the horns, faced your fear and you have gone out there. Maybe it is a new product out in the market. Maybe you are just starting up. If you are always going to play it safe, you are going to stagnate. There is no greater surety to the death of a business, or an entrepreneur, than to stagnate. The only way you are going to stay ahead of the pack, is to push those boundaries, until next time you have to move the fence post again. As an entrepreneur, this is the Never Ending Story.
4. Learn from the process.
A rejection is seen as a failure. But let me tell you, there are no failures, there are only ways not to do things. If you do not learn from the rejection, you are likely too arrogant, and you are going to bump your head many times before you might learn the lesson. Look at the whole process and learn how to do it next time, or not to do it. We are here to learn – no one person knows it all. Join the human race.
5. Be kind to yourself.
Go and visit a client who are happy with your service or product. Go visit a friend who has your back. If it did not work out this time around, do not beat yourself up. This was today, it is not your history or your future. The business world is tough, for today, you do not need to remind yourself. Get some good feedback to boost you. There is nothing wrong with it – we do not get it wrong all the time and we need to remind ourselves of it.
6. Acknowledge your feelings.
“Darn, that was not nice.” Say it, you do not have to have a stiff upper lip the whole time. Your ego gets bumped and thumped. Face it, acknowledge it. Recognize exactly why it hurts. Why is this one getting to you and some other not? Sit for a moment, feel the emotions, ask why are they there, why were they triggered? Maybe you can do something about it, maybe not – that is not the issue here. Acknowledge that you have them and that that was not nice.
7. A rejection does not define you.
This rejection is not the “total” you. It does not define you. You have had many successes. You have had many “failures”. You have stood up before and you will again. This is not all you are, there is so much more. And after this episode, you will come out stronger than ever before.
Being in business does not make you a machine. The truth is, that being human, with human emotions, is very important. It gives you the opportunity to understand and have compassion for your clients, your employees, and society as a whole. And not being a machine, comes with its limitations.
Emotions are at the same time our strongest weapon and our weakest link.
It allows us to see the vulnerability in other and makes us vulnerable. It makes us human – and I for one would much rather deal with a human than a machine.
Acknowledge your rejection, feel the emotions, then move on and learn from it. Walk out stronger and wiser. You have beaten rejection when it was only a step and a lesson onto the path of success.
Sue Leppan
Transformation Life Coach
NLP Practitioner
Follow me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SueLeppanLifeCoach/