You Haven’t Lived Until You’ve Been Rejected

You Haven’t Lived Until You’ve Been Rejected

It’s true. It’s bound to happen sooner later: You’re not going to close that deal you’ve been working on for months. Maybe someone didn’t like you – for whatever reason. Most of the time we are rejected for reasons we don’t know. None of our assumptions about why are correct. Perhaps we were turned down for things that were not under our control. Someone decided to raise the price of things you needed to buy. Maybe the person you spoke to decided to go with someone younger. Or someone who reminded them of their daughter. Or they’re having trouble in the workplace and they blame you, even though you had nothing to do with it. Or maybe someone wasn’t feeling good the day you met and everything they did that day seems arbitrary.

It happens to almost everybody. So what did you learn? Maybe nothing. Maybe you just moved on. That doesn’t mean there isn’t something to learn from the experience; there always is. The bright side is that you’re still YOU. You’re still the sum total of all the things you ever accomplished. Being rejected is just a moment in time. It doesn’t define you. What defines you are all the great thing you did before and will do again soon.

Don’t let a “non” or a rejection define you. Don’t waste more than a moment lingering. Move on. The best of us smile, learn and move on. Don’t look back. So you were rejected – join the club. It’s happened to the best of us.