Rejection Proof

Rejection Proof: 100 Days of Rejection, or How to Ask Anything of Anyone at Anytime by Jia Jiang
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Sum it up in a sentence (or two): Jia Jiang puts himself on a quest to be rejected 100 times in order to overcome his fear of it and learn how to "ask anything of anyone at anytime." He shares his insights in this informative and entertaining book.

First thoughts: I was so excited to read Rejection Proof, and it didn't disappoint. I wonder if I would have felt the same way if I had read it during my job search, or if reading it then would have kept my spirits up (or just made me even more frustrated), but either way, it was relatable. Jiang's fears of quitting his job and the first big rejection he experiences after what felt like a lifetime of "yes" reminded me of my own struggles with deciding to quit my job and look for something new, only to have to wait nearly a year for that something new to come around.

What is Rejection, Really?: Rejection is personal. Failure, on the other hand, is more objective. Rejection is human (good to remember), rejection is an opinion (and usually says more about the person doing the rejecting), and rejection is numbered (for me, it was about 50).

Favorite quotes:
"The problem with insecurity is that you start feeling like everyone might reject you, even your closest loved ones." -p21

"Our mainstream views on how to handle rejection are breathtakingly simplistic....Don't take it personally! Dust yourself off and move on!" -p 58-59

"In the end, what we really need is not acceptance from others, but acceptance from ourselves. In fact, being comfortable with who we are should be a prerequisite - not the result - of seeking others' approval. We should all have the knowledge that who we are is good enough to get a yes from ourselves." -p198

Things I Would Change: When Jiang uses past tense in his writing...that bummed me out. I really wish an editor would've caught that.

Recommended for: job seekers, artists/writers (who face rejection all the time), recent college grads, self-improvement junkies.

Editor's Note: I received a copy of Rejection Proof from Blogging for Books in exchange for an honest review.


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