10 tips on how to bounce back from rejection

 

We wouldn’t be human if we were not affected in one way or the other by our setbacks. Being able to adapt to challenges, cope with adversity and recover from difficulties is a skill many of us wish to have. Here are some tips to help you build your RESILIENCE. 

 

R Reflect on your performance objectively. What worked? What went wrong? What needs improving? If you could do it again, what would you do differently? Setbacks can feel personal so staying objective and looking at things from the observer’s perspective can help you see things rationally and logically, without getting emotional.

E End goal Keep your eyes on the prize and keep going. Don’t lose sight of your goal and what matters to you because if it really matters, you will find the strength and motivation to achieve it. Most highly successful people failed on numerous occasions before they accomplished their goals. What often determines their success is the refusal to give up when they face obstacles; instead they find a way to overcome them. Knowing what it is you aspire to achieve and wanting it with every part of your body will help you carry on when things get tough.

S Strengths When things are not going our way, it is easy to concentrate on negatives and our weaknesses. In those moments arises the perfect opportunity to remind yourself about your strengths and triumphs and acknowledge your progress, however small it may be. Draw on your strong points, be kind to yourself, challenge your negative thinking and remember that if you have been resourceful before, you have it in you to be resourceful again.

I Internal dialog What do you say to yourself when you don’t succeed or get rejected? Is your language positive and encouraging or negative, unhelpful and demotivating? Language and the words you use really matter as they impact how you feel and how you behave so pay attention to your language and chose your words wisely.

L Learning What did you learn from the experience that you can use in the future? How can you use this knowledge to your advantage? Life throws lessons at us every day and sometimes the more we know, the more we realise how little we know which can be overwhelming. Learning never ends...just remember “Rome wasn’t built in a day”.

I Interrupt the negative cycle Stress and worry are caused by how we perceive a situation, not the situation itself. The choice of how you respond to a situation will determine your outcome. Let’s say, you don’t get the job you interviewed for. If you respond by thinking you failed, you are not good enough, the way you will feel will be negative and hinder your confidence. If however you decide to respond more rationally by saying for example that although you were not successful, having an interview was good practice so I will be better prepared in the future or that there might have been other candidates who were more experienced etc, the way you feel about the situation will not be as negative as in the first scenario. In order to get out of the negative cycle, something needs to change, the cycle needs to be broken. Build awareness of your beliefs about a situation, because they will determine your action and results.

E Expectations Are your expectations realistic? What are the gaps (in your knowledge, experience etc.) you need to address? What / who is preventing you from achieving your goal? If your expectations are realistic, you are more likely to achieve your goals therefore have more confidence and motivation to take action.

N Network of people Think about the people around you. Who are your drainers and who are your fillers? Who do you need to see less? Who in your circle of acquaintances do you respect and would like to learn from? Surround yourself with people who support you and have positive impact on you, rather than those who drain your energy. Having someone who you can bounce ideas off and someone you can talk to can really help when you feel down.

C Count your blessings and practice gratitude. No matter how bad your situation is, there is always someone out there who is in a much worse situation than you are. Always! Look at it this way; there are people out there who wish they had your problems and your bad days. Rather than concentrating on how unlucky and unfortunate you are, take time to remind yourself how lucky you really are.

E Evaluate Thinking about all the above tips, as well your own ideas, ask yourself: If you were going to do one thing that would help you feel better about your situation, what would it be? What would you do if you knew you could not fail?

I would like to leave you with this final thought by the great Ralph Waldo Emerson “Don’t be pushed by your problems. Be led by your dreams”.

10 Tips on how to reduce fear

In my previous post I wrote about fear; what makes us fearful and how it can impact our life and future. If you missed it you can read it here. To help us deal with fear better, here’s a list of some things you can do to challenge and overcome your fear easier...

1. Acknowledge your fear

Start by acknowledging and accepting your fear. Think about any triggers that initiate your fear. What brings your fear out? What can you learn from it? Once you are aware of your fear, its’ triggers and effects then you can start working on diminishing your fears but you do need to know what to work on in the first place.

2. Change the way you think about your fear

We get what we focus on so if you tell yourself you are really nervous and petrified about delivering a presentation in 10 minutes…guess what, you will feel nervous and your body will respond to the feelings of nervousness too. If on the other hand you see your fear in a positive light and acknowledge the thrill your fear can offer then your body will respond with energy as opposed to discomfort. Rather than getting embarrassed about possibly getting red faced, or panicked when your heart beat is raised, you can choose to think that this is the way your body prepares you to deal with this situation. Our perception of a situation determines our thoughts and that in turn creates how we feel about a situation. As Mr. Wayne Dyer says “If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change”. Challenge the beliefs that limit you in overcoming your fear. Keep in mind that a limiting belief is not an idea held by the mind, it is idea that holds the mind. The good news is that you can re-programme your brain with different, positive thoughts but the trouble is, we often concentrate so intensely on the emotion itself that we become lost in the negative mindset that fear entails.

3. Step out of your comfort zone and confront your fear

Fear is not going to disappear on its own. Avoiding fears only makes them more scary. You need to do something to overcome it. As much as it will feel uncomfortable and scary to do something you are fearful of, especially at the beginning, you need to push yourself, build and exercise that “new muscle” that will help you confront your fear. Each time you embrace your fears, it will make it easier to cope with them the next time they strike. Take action in direct opposition to your fear, expose yourself to fear repeatedly and do the things you think you cannot do as taking risks will help you diminish your fears. Start with small actions and grow your confidence and resistance to fear as you go along.

4. Push yourself

Why would we step out of our comfort zone, make ourselves scared and uncomfortable if we have a choice not to? It's against human nature, right? If however, we were pushed into doing something that makes us feel fearful because we have no or little choice we would be more likely to do it. Think of your job. If your boss asked you to give a presentation to a large group of people (and you are petrified of public speaking) but your job depended on it, you most probably would push yourself to do it. That external resource is sometimes necessary to make us do things we are scared of. If you don't feel strong enough to push yourself as you feel you don't have enough resources, then look for encouragement and motivation from others. Build your accountability to your friend, family member, or work with a coach. Sometimes that extra push is needed to get you going.

5. Respond with your rational mind rather than feelings

In fearful situations we often talk ourselves into feeling more scared, responding to these situations by using emotional thinking rather than using logical thinking based on facts and truths. Logical thinking often helps us remain calm, sensible and reasonable, while responding with emotions and feelings to what we believe and perceive as truth, often makes us feel irrational, nervous and paranoid. It is natural to react emotionally to certain situations, it is the sign of a healthy mind, however being able to choose how you respond to situations will help you receive the outcome you wish to achieve.

6. Stay in the Now

Most of us live either in the past or in the future. We don’t really realise it until we start thinking about it. We often regret things we have done or things we haven’t done and we get wound up and worried about things that may happen, things that haven’t even taken place yet. It is good to reflect on the past and think about future if it is going to help us in overcoming our fears, for example: using strategies that helped us in the past or thinking about how we can overcome our fear and what could help us in the future rather than dwelling on the negative emotions that fear brought us and will bring us.

7. Share your fears

Having someone onto whom you can offload your feelings, emotions and pressures can be very helpful. By doing so, you could take some weight off your shoulders and feel lighter but also talking things through with someone can help you in coming up with more options and ideas on how to overcome your fears. Also, saying things out loud make them more real and therefore encourage stronger commitment to making positive changes.
I think the story below reflects this nicely:
“A man was trying very hard to lift a large rock.
His friend approached and asked him, “Are you using all of your strength?”
“Yes, I’m trying my hardest,” the man said.
“Are you sure?” the friend pressed him.
“Of course I’m using all of my strength!” the man replied impatiently.
“No, you’re not,” said the friend. “I’m standing right here and you haven’t asked me for help.” “

8. Find techniques and strategies that work for you

In situations when you are faced by fear it is important to have coping strategies that help you overcome and ease off your fears. Different things work for different people, but one simple technique that can really calm you down and helps to adjust your state within seconds is deep, slow breathing. In order to adjust your hormones you can also do 2 minutes of power posing before going into a stressful, evaluative situation. You can find out more about this from my previous blog. Preparation, goal setting, visualisation, affirmations, distraction, NLP techniques and adjusting your body language and smiling are also very effective.

9. What's the worst that could happen?

Putting things into perspective will often help you realise that things are not as scary as they seem to be. Focusing on the outcome you want to get and thinking about benefits of overcoming your fears can also help you deal with your fears better.

10. Praise yourself

When you have taken steps, however small they might be, towards overcoming your fears, give yourself a pat on the back for being brave and remember that by challenging your fears you are making progress towards positive changes in your life.
What are your tips? What helps you overcome your fears?
We all struggle with different fears, faulty mindsets and limiting beliefs, after all we are all human. The key is to build our awareness and recognise what it is that we need to change and work on to help us overcome our fears and not to allow our fears get the better of us.

“We gain strength, and courage, and confidence by each experience in which we really stop to look fear in the face… we must do that which we think we cannot.” — Eleanor Roosevelt