Dive In! | Beyond the Bucket List
The best etiquette for dealing with rejection is to extract its life lessons. Epic fails display the bravery required to passionately pursue dreams while making footprints in the sand, snow, and concrete. If you are exhausted by hearing no, dive deep into life.
Don’t overthink what diving in means. Just take action. Make an extreme bucket list for your professional and personal life. For your career, this might include participating in a niche international conference. If you can’t afford to attend, hang out in the lobby of a conference like the American Film Market in Santa Monica, even if you are not an entertainment professional. Talk to every single person with a name tag. Slither out of your zone and get your rejection on!
Take on a second job. Start a company this weekend. Sign up for a media boot camp. Buy a website domain for a business concept that you’ve talked about but never launched. If your line of work isn’t fulfilling, sign up for a university’s certificate program to gain skills in a new field. Watch Udemy videos. Write an article on LinkedIn and start authentically connecting to engaging professionals. Design a new app like Udemy meets Snapchat.
Alternate Routines
I don’t believe that receiving a yes is a numbers game, but if it is, when your digit is on deck, will you be ready? Get off the hamster wheel. Switch up your routines. Take the streets to work instead of the freeway. If you are working out in the mornings, work out during lunchtime. If you sit on the right side of church, sit on the left. There is proven science behind the positive effects of switching routines to foster creativity. Try a cup of green tea even though you hate it.
If you drive to work the same way, call the same people, drink the same beverages, arrive home to the same roommates, you get the point. More of the same isn’t helping you to create yeses. Consistency is an admirable quality, as is loyalty. But you don’t want to consistently be loyal to unhappiness and defeat.
Expand beyond what you know and challenge the norm. Wisdom can stifle your ability to generate innovative ideas. There is certainly much to gain by following certain rules or implementing advice from mentors. But be sure to try what seems impossible, just as I did when cold emailing a president at Lionsgate. Dealing with hardships imparts takeaways for your future, not your hindsight.
If you feel anxious in your personal life, switch from yoga to boxing or join a local league team sport. Register for a rock climbing or paddleboard class. Watch an inspiring Netflix documentary, then connect on LinkedIn and Twitter with the experts and documentarian. Identify what inspires you. Then allow the inspiration to permeate your life in the form of action. Create a 360-degree yes map. Take efficient steps toward your milestones.
Think of a way to test your endurance. Maybe it’s going to a trampoline park or indoor skydiving. For me, it was diving into the McDonald’s dumpster after the restaurant was closed. That’s right, totally disgusting, I know, standing in piled-high trash. I think it’s the craziest thing I have ever done by choice.
Almost a Millionaire
You may know the Monopoly board game McDonald’s has where you collect Monopoly pieces based on your purchases. If you collect certain properties, you get a free menu item. If you collect the dark-blue set of Boardwalk and Park Place, you win a million dollars.
I had the Park Place piece at home, or so I thought, until I received Boardwalk. I was thrilled at first and showed my coworker Matthew, saying, “Oh my gosh, I think I just won a million dollars, because I have the Park Place piece at home.”
He responded, “No, that’s not possible.”
Rethinking the situation, I said, “Yeah, I don’t think it’s possible either.”
I convinced myself that there was no way I had just won a million dollars. I declared that I had mixed things up and was just confused. I dismissively threw away Boardwalk. When I got home, I soon realized that I had just thrown away the winning piece.
So what did I do? I called up Matthew, screaming incoherently at first. Then I asked him if he’d go with me to the dumpster if I split the money with him. He agreed. So Matthew and I went to the McDonald’s after it was closed and dived in.
Trust Your Instincts
As I’m sure you can imagine, the dumpster digging was disgusting and draining. We dug for over four hours straight. Suddenly, a police car flashed its lights.
An officer slowly approached us with his flashlight blaring and asked, “What are you doing?”
I explained the situation, and he said, “Keep on digging!”
Sadly, we did not find the piece. I know! What I took away was a million-dollar lesson: trust my instincts. The second thing I learned was even more important. After my sixth shower that night, I discovered my resilience. I had to eventually stop digging and accept the brutal loss. Sometimes a no will be a hard no, and there’s no way to change it. That’s why the power of creation is priceless. It’s never about waiting on a yes. You must find it or make it happen.
What’s Near You?
Remember to pay close attention to your surroundings. Take a step back at work to notice the companies in your building or nearby. Look for patterns and things out of the ordinary. Find out who drives the smallest electric car or super car in your company’s parking lot. Get to truly know the people in your neighborhood, at your cleaners, barber shop, nail salon, or bank. You are where you are for a reason, so try to find out the connection.
An administrative professional hated her minimum-wage job. One day coming back from lunch, she overheard loud music in the office adjacent to hers. She opened the company’s office door and observed the employees celebrating. The consulting firm had just landed a Fortune 500 client. She asked if they had any job openings, and they did because of the newly signed business deal. She applied that week and is now their hiring manager.
Are you tired of waiting on a yes? What are you on the verge of quitting? Identify potential advocates and collaborate. Partnerships are a crucial component to elevation in business, career, and personal endeavors. Achieving success is not a science; it is an art form that is mastered through massive rejection.
It’s obvious that you are willing to dive in for what you want out of life, or you wouldn’t have picked up this book. So the next time that you hear no, don’t let it be a permanent setback. And when you keep on hearing no, over and over again, create your own yes!