How to Reframe Rejection
Instead of hearing “No,” hear “Next.”
Change the way you perceive rejection and it won’t feel so bad.
Getting rejected hurts. It can make you question your self-worth. It can make you feel like you’ve lost something that you felt like you deserved more than anyone else.
One trick that has helped me is realizing that whatever I was going after was never mine to begin with. So, my life didn’t get any worse after the rejection. It’s stayed the same.
If you’re asking someone out and she says no, then it’s not the end of the world. Nothing has changed. You didn’t have a date scheduled before and you still don’t have a date now. There are plenty of people to ask and I assure you that someone will say yes.
Rejection isn’t a loss. Nobody can take anything away from you that was never yours.
What is for you is for you. If you didn’t get that job offer, then it wasn’t for you. Take the rejection as a lesson. See it as an opportunity to make yourself a better candidate for the job that is meant to be yours.
“Some will. Some won’t. So what. Someone is waiting.” — Jack Canfield in The Success Principles
I love the above quote because it’s the perfect motivator after rejection. You’re not for everybody, but there is somebody who is looking for you. There is somebody waiting for your idea or your skills.
Keep going until you find where you belong.
Imagine a group of one hundred people before you and you knew that there was one person among them who would give you what you wanted. You don’t know who. You don’t know how many people you have to ask before you reach the yes, but the yes is out there.
Even if you had to ask 99 people before you got to your yes, you’d do it because there was no doubt that you’d get what you wanted. Eventually, you wouldn’t get rejected.
Your commitment needs to be unwavering so rejection doesn’t get to you. Success is being able to experience failure after failure without losing enthusiasm.
Treat your goals like there’s no way you can fail. That way, it’ll be easier to reframe a no into a next. Just keep it moving onto the next person. Keep going after what you want.
Instead of seeing rejection as roadblocks and dead end streets, change your perception. See rejection as merely hurdles to jump over or obstacles you can get around.
Rejection shouldn’t stop you. It may make you take a detour and reevaluate how to get to your journey, but it shouldn’t deter you from continuing on.
If you’re committed to your goal, don’t let anyone stop you from reaching it. Your acceptance is waiting. It’s your job to make it there. Just keep going.
