Rejection Collection

January 27th, 2010 Posted by Suzy Ogé

Do you save rejection letters? I definitely do. Not because I have a masochistic desire to repeatedly read bad reviews about myself, in fact rejection letters are almost never personal. They are typically generic, copy-paste and insert name, sent by someone (or their assistant) who can’t be bothered.

So why hold on to them? I keep mine as a collection, but the problem is that I don’t have enough rejection letters! Am I bragging here? Is my ego bigger than my collection of rejection letters? No, it’s not that I’m rarely rejected. My short stack of rejections is a reminder that I am not trying hard enough! The hard reality is that you have to endure hearing NO many times in order to hear the magic YES.

Are you putting yourself out there? Really? How many big opportunities have you dared to go for? I am quite proud of a few gems in my collection, including Royal Rejections all the way up to Her Majesty Beatrix, Queen of the Netherlands. My office and inbox are not yet full of rejections, so I have a lot more work to do to get my ideas, projects and proposals in front of the right people!

Howard Schultz, founder of Starbucks, famously approached 242 people to raise the initial investment he needed of $1.25 million. Schultz was completely rejected by 217 people! That’s perseverance!

Can you truly say you’ve tried everything? Size up your own rejection collection and then dare to go for it !