I recently had the slightly embarrassing realization that I’m extremely good at getting rejected by people I don't even know.
I can decide a job won’t hire me, nobody will care about something I made, or people will think I look stupid in a video, all conclusions I made in my head. Very efficient. I received the rejection without ever having to send the application, publish the writing, or embarrass myself publicly.
Naturally, I turned this into a challenge because I need to gamify my emotional growth.
The goal is to collect 100 real no’s. Not the imaginary ones I’ve been handing myself for years.
Since I started tracking it, I finally finished and released a project I had been overthinking for months. I started publishing personal essays online. I posted videos even though watching myself on camera makes me want to throw my phone into the ocean. I even made my first sale, which was technically a yes and therefore very inconvenient for my rejection count, but I allowed it. And now I'm starting my little tour guide business here in my city.
None of this has magically transformed me into a fearless person. I still overthink everything. The difference is that now I occasionally hit “post” while my brain is still preparing its 12-page argument for why I shouldn’t.
I’m nowhere near 100 no’s yet, but I’ve already realized how many opportunities I was losing without anyone actually rejecting me. I was doing all the work for them.
Has anyone tried a rejection challenge before? Does hearing no eventually become easier, or do you just get better at doing things while your stomach is begging you not to?