WHAT I LEARNED FROM 100 DAYS OF REJECTION

The idea: Rejection resilience. Who: Jia

Jiang – author, blogger, entrepreneur and allround charming man.

What? Jiang overcame his paralysing fear of rejection by forcing himself to confront it every day for 100 days. He began by asking a stranger for $100 (er, no, mate) and eventually convinced a university professor to let him teach a course. He found the more he got used to the word ‘no,’ the easier it was to stay and challenge it.

Quote: “People who really change the world, who change the way we live and think, are the people who were met with initial and often violent rejections.”

Apply it: This is the basic premise of exposure therapy: confront yourself with things you’re afraid of. Scared of cold-calling clients? Do it every day. And next time you’re knocked back, instead of running home and diving headfirst into a tub of Ben & Jerry’s, force yourself to ask (nicely) why. At the very least, you’ll get useful feedback – and you could end up changing someone’s mind.

“Confront yourself with things you’re scared of”