Peace of Mind Organizing

Getting past the fear of rejection

8 July 2013

I attended the World Domination Summit this weekend in Portland, Oregon. It was a wonderful two-day conference for entrepreneurs who want to do good for the world. (Its central theme is “leading a remarkable life in a conventional world”.)

The speakers were excellent and each one was inspirational. One of my favorite speakers was Jia Jiang who created the blog, !00 days of rejection in an effort to desensitize himself to the pain of rejection. Using hidden video he recorded his efforts to create 100 rejections. The result is a remarkable blog. Check it out.

In his low-key, humorous talk (which garnered a standing ovation), Jia talked about how he overtly tried to be rejected by asking outlandish requests. (Among them: He asked a police officer if he could drive his car, a private pilot if he could fly his plane, and knocked on a door in soccer garb and asked a man if he could play soccer in his back yard.) And you know what? he wasn’t rejected—he flew that plane, drove that police car, and played soccer. We saw photos.

His video went viral when he asked a Krispy Kreme donuts employee to create a custom donut in the shape of the Olympic rings—and she did it.

Jia’s talk made me ponder the crippling fear of rejection, and how off-base it often is. He made me think about how much we can accomplish if we simply let go of our natural fear of rejection.

I’m so grateful to have seen this talk. (And you can watch his Tedx Austin talk to experience something like it yourself.) When I contemplate new directions or strategies for my business (or anything else in my life), I’ll remember Jia’s talk. And I hope I’ll ignore my natural fear of rejection and realize that if I don’t ask for something I can’t hope to get it!

Tagged with: fear, jia jiang, rejection, world domination summit

Comments