5 Ways to Handle Rejection Like a Leader
Rejection hurts. Rejection is part of the process. Rejection redirects us!
Rejection is not the end. It's merely the starting point for the next trajectory...
Remember the saying that it's not the destination but the journey that counts?
Rejection helps us shift our direction and play with our coordinates, so that we can enjoy the journey even more, even if it doesn't feel like it at first.
Believe it or not, rejection is the best thing that can happen to us at all times.
The goal of living is NOT to accomplish all of your goals, but to accomplish your goals around people who care about YOU and WHAT you're trying to accomplish – and WHO you're trying to become – as much as you do.
Rejection brings you closer to your people, which makes the journey more exciting and a lot more meaningful!
Here are 5 ways to handle rejection better.
1. LAUGH IT OFF
There are multiple ways to accomplish something. Getting attached to a particular pathway, packaging or outcome is only going to disappoint you!
Rejection happens to remind us to let go of the expectations we have set for ourselves, the world and the people around us.
When we make room for wonder, we can notice all the signs and synchronicities on our journey, which in turn helps us trust the process with an open heart.
Ideas arrive. People show up. Opportunities surprise us!
We cannot control every single aspect of the journey just like we can't control when a surprise is going to appear and in what size or shape it will arrive.
Sure, we can surprise ourselves, but sometimes the Universe wants to surprise us, too.
Facing rejection? Laugh it off and say "Thank you!" with an open heart.
2. STAY TRUE TO YOUR VALUES
Whatever you do next, remember who you are.
You are not the achievements on your shelf or CV, just like you're not the failures or losses attached to your life story so far.
If anything, you're more like the potential that's stored within you – and your potential is limitless, patiently awaiting your return to your vision board, so that you can continue to channel your creative intelligence into great manifestations for the world.
This has become one of my favourite questions: "What are your top 5 values?"
When in doubt, return back to your top 5 values and you'll always make the right decision, whether it leads to success or rejection.
After all, rejection is merely a redirection to the next opportunity!
3. CHANNEL IT INTO YOUR WORK
Let your actions – or creations – speak for yourself.
A leader knows they're serving a higher purpose than just the results that are visible in the physical world.
There are great shifts when we show up and speak from the heart. Harness that power and use it to improve your services, products or projects.
Bring the creative energy back to your work and watch the miracles unfold before your eyes as you become the creator who has entered the state of flow!
When one door closes (the door to the opportunity that just rejected you), many more doors will open for you to explore what's possible next.
Remember that it's not the door that matters, but who you are and who you're going to become next by crossing its threshold.
Opportunities don't make us great leaders, they simply give us a better playing field to develop the potential that was already stored within us!
4. TURN IT INTO A LIFE LESSON
Every experience can be translated into a life lesson, especially the painful ones like failure, disappointment and rejection.
In today's content economy, you can profit from your pain and rejection by turning them into social media posts designed to empower and uplift others.
The teacher arrives when the student is ready. No one said that the teacher has to be perfect or immune to failure for their lessons to impact the students!
Look at Ted Lasso's life and you'll see a series of imperfect moments that lead to perfectly orchestrated breakthroughs impacting the world for the better.
We are all capable of channeling Ted Lasso's spirit – not by trying to stay optimistic 24/7, but by allowing ourselves to experience our emotions and by making space to receive the wisdom that they are trying to give us daily.
We are all teachers and students in the School of Life. The sooner you embrace your role as a teacher, the more students you'll be able to impact with your lessons.
The question is – what are you here to teach others? Knowing your subject will bring you more clarity on how to structure your lessons and who's actually in your audience.
5. USE IT AS A MIRROR
Rejection means that there isn't alignment between who you are right now and who you're becoming next + the opportunity or the person you were hoping to work with in order to get there, even if the calculations are happening on a subconscious level.
Your Higher Self knows what's best for you, because it can do calculations based on non-linear timelines that are affected by individual choices that are always interlinked.
Sure, there's some randomness to life (The Law of Unpredictability), but the higher you ascend on your personal growth journey, the more you'll be able to tap into the Higher Self wisdom and see for yourself why some choices and directions are not good for your long-term growth, even if they feel exciting and rewarding in the immediate future.
Let's imagine a hypothetical rejection...
You didn't win an award? Great. That means you never got a chance to attend the ceremony and you never met the person who'd become the co-founder to your successful company that would eventually get you in so much debt that your health would begin to deteriorate until you lost all connections and resources, and all the joy you had left in you was connected to your early life years of dreaming about channeling your potential. Look where that got you!
Now let's use your rejection as a mirror...
"Why do you want to win an award so badly?"
We CANNOT take objects with us after we depart Earth, so what makes awards so special that we are willing to pursue them as souvenirs for our success?
Are you using awards to try and impress others – friends, family, our network?
How do you really view awards – as great conversation starters or perhaps "keys" that open new doors to new opportunities?
Have awards become the "toys" of your adulthood that help you feel loved, appreciated and cherished as a way to soothe and validate your Inner Child?
What is it in your belief system that prioritises getting an award over spending extra hours working on a solution that can benefit people, even if you don't get any credit for it?
Doing the inner work to get to know who you are and rewrite your inner narrative never ends. It only gets better – more intricate – with time!
Don't be afraid to look within. Until the day rejection feels like another feedback loop, keep reviewing daily events as if they are mirror images that give you clues as how to unblock your path forward and unlock more of your potential.
TED LASSO SAYS: BELIEVE IN YOURSELF
All you need is yourself. There's no secret ingredient – perhaps love. But it's not the kind of love that society is trying to sell you. It's love for humanity, for helping one another, for being kind as a way to communicate our love to others.
The Universe sends us many signs and messengers to uplift our Spirit and guide us. Yet not every sign is a trustworthy sign...
Trust yourself, above all.
Don't let the lower spectrum of emotions (grief, guilt, shame or fear) persuade you that you're meant to stay there forever.
You are worthy of success, of being loved unconditionally, of leading the world 🌍
Believe in yourself!
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