Every person who ever succeeded at anything faced tons of rejection. This includes few or no results, little money, no promotion, pain, criticism, poor evaluation, unhappiness, complaints and loneliness. Rejection is, however, a critical sign to show you where you need to improve and what you need to do to get more praise, happiness, money, promotions and better results. As mentioned, rejection is nothing more than negative feedback that is showing you what not to do. In fact, the negative feedback you receive from rejection is so important that you should welcome it because it shows you the right path to the success you want. History is filled with examples of people who held fast to their vision and used negative feedback to move forward.

Walt Disney was fired from a newspaper for ‘lacking imagination and having no original 147 ideas’. Disney’s themepark concept received over 300 rejections by banks, councils, financiers and local authorities before he finally created Disneyland. At age thirty, Steve Jobs was brutally dumped by the board of Apple Computers, the company he had founded. Oprah Winfrey was demoted from her job as a news anchor because she ‘wasn’t fit for television’, and the Beatles were rejected by Decca Studios because ‘We don’t like  their sound. They have no future in show business.’ Even Albert Einstein’s school report said he would ‘never amount to much’.

Where these people differ from most others is that they chose to stick with their goals, despite what others said, thought or did. If you give up, you’ll never know what you’ll be missing. If you have an idea or concept you believe in and you think will benefit others, stick with it. Don’t give up early. As you move toward your goals, some people will throw rocks at you but you can choose whether to use those rocks to build a wall or to build a bridge.

Ninety-seven percent of the people who quit too soon are employed by the 3 percent who never gave up.
>>Ask the experts
See out people who have already done what you are planning to achieve. Whether it’s beating cancer, climbing Mount Everest, riding a horse, learning another language, accumulating wealth, losing weight or growing organic food, there are plenty of people who have already done it. Some have written books about it, many produce courses, videos and manuals on it and you will find most on YouTube. Look on the Internet to see who they are and where to find them. Try inviting an expert to lunch or coffee and ask them to guide or mentor you. If they reject your initial approach, ask again. If they still say ‘No’, ask again. That’s how they got to be successful themselves.

Every expert was once a beginner looking for someone to help them find the right direction. They can show you the shortcuts and pitfalls on the way to your goal. Don’t reinvent the wheel – ask the experts how they did it. Do not ask the advice or opinions of people who have never done what you want to do. They can only tell you why it can’t be done.

When you were a kid, you asked for what you wanted over and over again until someone gave it to you. If the first person didn’t give it to you, the next one may, and if not that person, maybe the next. Kids are experts at wearing down their parents so they eventually get what they want. Ask, ask and ask again for what you want. The person you are asking today usually feels differently on different days, so chances are you’ll pick a day when they feel ready to say ‘Yes’. Don’t keep what you want as a secret, and never wait around for someone to work it out or give it to you.

It won’t happen. As simple as this may sound, asking for what you want can lead to great results. Yet asking is one of the toughest things most people are prepared to consider. They would love a raise, a donation, a date, a better seat, an airline upgrade or for their child to change teachers at school, but they won’t ask in case the answer is ‘No’.

The golden rule for asking is to keep doing it. Stick with it. Ask people continually for what you want. We don’t mean that you should  nag them. We mean that you should keep asking the decision makers in positive, creative ways to give you what you want. Statistically speaking, the answer is more likely to be ‘No’ than ‘Yes’ but if the ratio is, say, 10:1, you will eventually get one ‘Yes’.

Even when the answer is ‘No’, you are no worse off than before you asked. You are in exactly the same position.
When you ask, be absolutely clear about what you are asking for. If you are going to ask someone for a date, don’t say, ‘Maybe we should go out sometime …’. Instead, say, ‘I’d like to take you to dinner and then to the movies on Saturday night. What’s a good time to pick you up? Seven o’clock, or would eight be better?’

Approach others as if it’s a done deal and that it’s the logical thing to do. ‘I’d like a pay rise of $600 a month’ is more likely to get a ‘Yes’ than ‘I need a raise.’.

‘Obsessed’ is a word lazy people often use to describe dedicated people. Decide right now to ask others to help you with your goals. Ask for that raise, a date, a referral, an introduction, a loan, mentoring advice, or whatever you need to move forward with your goals. And never give up asking. Someone, somewhere is waiting to say ‘Yes’ to whatever ideas you have. You may need to ask another ten, perhaps twenty, or maybe more than a hundred people, but someone is definitely waiting for you. As
you now know, it’s a matter of statistics. Don’t feel despondent or depressed if someone says ‘No’- simply ask the next person.