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O P I N I O N
Rejection theory Live with rejection, learn from rejection, and conquer your fear of rejection. Once all that’s out of the way, prepare to win!
A re you afraid to put yourself out there? Are you afraid of the pain of rejection? No, I am not talking about asking someone out on a date. I am talking about the fear of losing that leads to major lost opportunities in your career and for your firm. Fear of rejection leads many A/E/P and environmental industry firms down an equally dangerous path of stagnation.
Christina Zweig Niehues
I get it; no one likes to be told “no.” A lost job can feel like a major blow to your ego, especially if you put in a great deal of work to try to win it. A rejected proposal can feel like someone saying, “You’re not good enough,” or, “You don’t have enough talent.” If you get rejected a lot, you may start to feel like it’s not worth it to put much time or effort into pursuing the next new job. You might start to feel like your firm’s work is mid-rate, or that you aren’t as good as your competitor. If you let this fear
control you, your work is going to get worse, your list of clients will shrink, you’ll be less creative, way less fun, and you’ll lose even more jobs! I recently read an article about Jason Comely, a freelance IT guy from Ontario. Comely’s wife left him and he became a withdrawn, downtrodden guy who generally avoided talking to people. He realized he was consumed by his fear and afraid of rejection.
See CHRISTINA ZWEIG NIEHUES, page 4
THE ZWEIG LETTER October 2, 2017, ISSUE 1218
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