Description

Expose yourself to social rejection on purpose to build resilience and reduce fear of failure.

Benefits

Desensitizes you to fear and builds confidence in social and high-stakes settings.

Example

Matt’s fear of rejection was running his life. He wouldn’t ask people out, wouldn’t apply for roles he was qualified for, and hated even sending back food at restaurants. Inspired by Jia Jiang’s Rejection Therapy challenge, he made a list of low-stakes rejections to seek out — asking for a discount at Starbucks, requesting a tour of a warehouse store. Some were awkward. Some were surprisingly successful. But most importantly, he stopped seeing “no” as a reflection of his worth. He now runs a small business and says his comfort with rejection is his best asset.