What I Learned From Getting Rejected 10 Times On Purpose

“Rejection is Redirection”

I see this quote a lot on LinkedIn and it’s something that got me through hundreds of job rejections in my first two years of university as I always knew there was something better waiting for me somewhere else. This mindset evolved into thinking “their loss” if a company didn’t want me, which greatly helped to reduce stress during the recruiting process. With these job rejections however, there was always a clear goal at the end of the tunnel…but what if there wasn’t? What if that path simply ended at the rejection and there was no redirection?

In Eric Janssen’s Hustle & Grit Class at the Ivey Business School, our latest assignment was “Rejection Olympics”. We received a bingo card with 16 tasks designed to push us outside our comfort zone and get comfortable with being rejected. Example tasks included offering to pay for people’s orders, asking for a discount on your coffee, and asking a stranger for a compliment. This time, there was no redirection after the rejections so it gave me a different perspective. I wanted to share some of my learnings with you and encourage you to try your own Rejection Olympics!

“Tasks Will Fill Up The Time You Allocate To Them”

I consider myself to be a productive person. I use my Google Calendar religiously and rarely catch myself procrastinating on work. With this challenge however, I quickly noticed I was procrastinating many of the tasks as I wasn’t blocking specific time in my calendar to complete the challenge. We had 14 days to complete them and so everyday it was always “I’ll do it tomorrow”. I realized the importance of scheduling things and sticking to your schedule because things will fill up the time you allocate to them. If I gave myself 14 days to complete the challenge, it would take me 14 days, but if I gave myself 3 hours to complete it, I could likely finish it in 3 hours.?

Moving forward, I’ll ensure I continue to use my Google Calendar for time blocking and schedule everything I want to get completed, even if it doesn’t need to be completed on a certain date. For those who struggle with time management and procrastination, here are some helpful articles and books to get you over that hump:

1. Atomic Habits (book)
2. Free to Focus (book)
3. The Difference Between Professionals & Amateurs (article)

“Who Cares What People Think”?

The scariest part about rejection is that as humans we care what people think of us. We were built to obsess over external validation back in 50,000BC when being socially accepted was critical to our survival. Fast forward to 2021 however, and humans are now fairly independent and can easily function on their own with social acceptance being less critical than it was before.

Coming into this challenge, I didn’t think I cared what people thought about me, especially strangers. Yet I found myself spending a lot of time and energy worrying about what a stranger would think if I asked them for a compliment or asked to pay for their coffee. This caused me to take much longer to complete the challenge than I had originally thought.?

In other aspects of my life, I ask myself “will this matter” when deciding whether to do something. Watching an episode of Netflix likely won’t matter much to me in the future but working on a side hustle could lead to big gains in the future. I realized I should have asked myself this question during the Rejection Olympics because even though things would be awkward in the moment, they likely wouldn’t matter in a few years, months, or even hours. Moving forward, I’m going to think back to this challenge whenever I’m hesitant to do something so I can remember that I should adopt a “who cares” and “will this matter” mentality to everything I do.

Here’s an interesting read about why you should stop caring what people think about you - hopefully it will help change your mindset and give you the confidence to do something you’ve been avoiding.?

“Accountability Partners Are Life Changing”

I learned about accountability partners in a LinkedIn post last year where a pair of friends sent each other money every time they missed a workout. I experienced the world of accountability partners first hand throughout this course and can now say that they are a great resource for holding you accountable.?

I checked in with a friend halfway through the challenge and he had only completed one of the tasks at that point. My competitive nature pushed me to try to complete more than him while also using my progress to motivate him. On the flip side, I was discussing my plans for the day with another friend at lunch and I asked them to check in on me that night to ensure I completed two of my tasks that afternoon. That peer pressure and knowledge that someone was expecting an update from me gave me that extra push I needed to get those tasks done that afternoon.?

Looking ahead to 2022 as we set our resolutions for the new year, I plan on recruiting multiple accountability partners to help hold me accountable to some of my goals - maybe I’ll even post about them here on LinkedIn so you all can hold me accountable.?

If you want to learn more about accountability partners, check out this article and feel free to reach out if you’re looking for one!?

Closing Thoughts

This challenge, and course as a whole, has been an amazing learning experience for me, providing outlets for deep self reflection and opportunities to challenge myself. For those of you in HBA1 or those planning on coming to Ivey, I highly recommend taking Hustle & Grit with Eric in your HBA2 year - you won’t regret it!

I hope you learned something from my learnings and if you aren’t already, make sure to give me and #morningswithmatt a follow.