Don’t Let Rejection Scare You

Anytime you feel like quitting throughout your career, perhaps you’ll remember this story of one of our people:

When he was born he was given the nickname “Sparky.” School was very difficult for Sparky, and he failed eighth grade. He also flunked several subjects in high school, the same high school that I attended a few years later.

He wasn’t very good in sports either. He did make the school’s golf team, but he lost the most important match of the season and the consolation match too. Throughout his youth, Sparky was awkward. He felt he was a loser and other kids avoided him.

One thing that was important to him, however, was his artwork.  He spent most of his free time drawing. He offered sketches to the high school yearbook, but they were rejected. Later on he submitted his cartoons to many publications and studios, including Disney, and he was turned down by every single one.

Sparky was drafted into World War II, later stating, “The Army taught me all I needed to know about loneliness.”  After the war he dated a woman who rejected his marriage proposal and then she married another man the following year.

He decided to tell his life story in cartoons and was picked up by United Features Artists in 1950, but they forced him to rename his comic strip from “Li’l Folks” to “Peanuts.”  Charles Schulz did not like the idea, but he was ecstatic that his comics were finally getting published.

Peanuts would go on to become a cultural phenomenon because people could relate to the lovable loser main character, Charlie Brown, who reminded people of embarrassing and painful moments. But he never gave up. Nor did Charles Schulz.

We all face discouragement and rejection in our lives, but we have a choice in how we handle it. You can’t avoid rejection. The sooner you find out that rejection is a part of life, the better off you will be. It’s how you deal with it that sets you apart.

A prime example comes from Charlie Brown himself. In the first cartoon panel, he tells his buddy, “I learned something in school today. I signed up for folk guitar, computer programming, stained glass, art, shoe making and a natural foods workshop.

“Instead, I got spelling, history, arithmetic, and two study periods.” 

The next panel shows Charlie’s pal asking, “So, what did you learn?”

In his infinite wisdom, Charlie replies, “I learned that what you sign up for in life, and what you get, are two different things.” 

In my book, “We Got Fired! . . . And It’s the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Us,” I featured businesswoman and author Deborah Rosado Shaw who rose from poverty to create a multi-million-dollar umbrella-making business, Umbrellas Plus. 

The secret of her success? As she described in an Atlanta …read more
Source: Harvey Mackay