We all have been rejected. It’s inevitable, yet we expend an inordinate amount of energy navigating around it. Imagine if we flipped the switch and saw “rejection or failure” as just information offering another path.
If you think about it, it is the judgment that creates failure, not the event itself. We see the event through the eyes of unmet expectations rather than information to guide our next step. One person may be paralyzed by the failure while the other just brushes past it. Why?
Maybe the rejection is a gift and an opportunity to fine-tune your future.
Judgment, perspective, and fear are what create the sense of failure.
Loosen the grip on the intended outcome and stay with the present experience, using it as a form of mental faith.
No value judgment, just information to calibrate the next approach.
Think back to college applications. We’re all familiar with “rejection letters.” (Who thought of that name anyway?) Certainly, a wonderful way to set our young minds up for disaster!
What we didn’t appreciate at the time were the people and opportunities that poised us for our future successes. They didn’t reside where we initially expected.
Because of the “rejection,” we were forced to look elsewhere, broaden our thinking, and expand our comfort zone. Skills that serve us to this day.
Because of this “rejection," we found some of our closest friends, met our spouses, and learned an unexpected craft.
Because of the “rejection," not despite it.
Some of us go so far as to seek out failure. Pushing boundaries so hard that they tap against the edge of success and fall right over to “failure.” One top executive gives a trophy to the individual with the most epic failure. She embraced the bravery to reach further, normalizing and socializing failure while simultaneously knowing that on the precious of failure may be an unimaginable success.
Innovation awaits, creativity is awakened, and the future is defined.
Most of us stay within the safety zone. So afraid of embarrassment, of criticism and let down that we play it safe, play small.
Yet, when you see someone bear their vulnerability, stand up on that stage, and reach far beyond expectation… regardless of the outcome, we all say, “Wow, they are amazing, I wish I could do that.” We are delighted and inspired by their tenacity, strength, grit, and unwavering belief in themselves.
So, what separates you? What separates the people who seek the seemingly impossible? Are they smarter? More fit? Funnier? No, they are determined to see it through. To trade fear for unimagined success. To believe so deeply in their own untapped potential that others' opinions are just that, opinion.
Too often, we sit on the sidelines with trepidation, watching the very few rise while wishing we were among them.
I am here to tell you, they have NOTHING on you other than a mindset that they are worthy of whatever they can imagine.
As Roy Husada says “Embracing failure is not about celebrating defeat, but rather recognizing the potential it holds for learning and growth. It’s about having the resilience to keep moving forward, even when the way ahead is unclear.”
Today, begin to imagine and join the elite. You are worthy of anything you can imagine.
Let’s FAIL FORWARD together.
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