Jia Jiang struggled with a constant fear of rejection as a
kid growing up. And in his adulthood, when he first set out into the business
world, such fear would again manifest itself.
“This fear even persisted after I started my own company,”
Jiang recounted at a TED talk recorded in March last year. “When I was an
entrepreneur, I was presented with an investment opportunity, and then I was
turned down. And that rejection hurt me.”
in July 2012, he then decided it was the time he faced it
head on by embarking on a personal quest to seek out rejection for 100 days. He
also started a blog, 100 Days of Rejection Therapy, where he documented his
daily “rejection” challenges that ranged from “asking a stranger to borrow
$100″ to requesting a “burger refill” at a restaurant.
Jiang’s journey would eventually desensitize himself to the
pain and shame that rejection used to bring him. And in the few times when he
didn’t get rejected, he discovered how people can actually be much kinder and
sometimes all it takes is to ask.
“In my research, I found that people who really change the
world, who change the way we live and the way we think, are the people who were
met with initial and often violent rejections,” he stated.
His experience helped him understand that fear of rejection
is a much more destructive force than the actual rejection itself.
“We don’t have to be those people to learn about rejection,
and in my case, rejection was my curse, was my boogeyman. It has bothered me my
whole life because I was running away from it. Then I started embracing it. I
turned that into the biggest gift in my life,” he added.
In 2015, he wrote his experience via the bestselling book,
“Rejection Proof: How I Beat Fear and Became Invincible Through 100 Days of
Rejection“.
Now Jiang has been sharing what he learned through his
website Rejection Therapy, where he provides inspiration, knowledge and
products for people to overcome their fear of rejection. He is also the CEO of
Wuju Learning, a company that teaches people to become fearless through
rejection training.
Jiang, who grew up in Beijing, China, migrated to the United
States at age 16. He holds a Bachelor of Computer Science from Brigham Young
University and a Master of Business Administration from Duke University.
Source: nextshark
Source: nextshark
