Rejection Proof: How I Beat Fear and Became Invincible Through 100 Days of Rejection

Review: Jia Jiang fears rejection and instead of just living with it like most of us do, he decides to deal with it head on. He asks favors from strangers for 100 days in order to overcome his fear and in the process learns how to put rejection in perspective and not let it control him. He’s willing to be uncomfortable and embarrassed which is inspiring in and of itself. He describes several of the crazy ideas he came up with in his quest to get rejected--get donuts made in the shape of the Olympic Rings, ask a security guard for $100, ask a homeowner if he could plant in their yard, ask for a burger refill at a burger joint—you get the idea. The tone is similar to his TED Talk, humorous, sincere, and full of humility. He recorded each rejection and forced himself to watch each experience in order to learn from it. Not surprisingly it got easier to be rejected the more often he did it. He also learned important techniques. For instance, always ask why. Why are they rejecting you? Once you know why, you have a chance to address whatever their objection is. Don’t take rejection personally—often it’s just an immediate reaction with nothing to do with you. Most importantly rejection happens much less often than you fear.