Rejection is an inevitable part of life. Whether it’s dating, career success, or anything else, you are definitely going to face rejection in life. Not only are you guaranteed to face rejection, but it also comes with some really uncomfortable feelings. The most successful people weathered rejection. Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team. Walt Disney was fired from a newspaper because he “Lacked Imagination.” Stephen King’s first book was rejected thirty times before landing a publishing deal. There’s two ways you can handle rejection. You can get caught up in the discomfort & let it cripple you, or you can view it as bringing you closer to your ultimate goal. Anyone with a background in sales knows rejection well, and knows that it’s a numbers game. In my business, we have certain ratios that have been proven over time. X number of phone calls = X number of appointments set. X number of appointments with potential clients = X number of sales. With those proven numbers, the people in my business have adopted the mentality that rejection just means you’re one step closer to your goal. So why does rejection cripple some people? It’s because everyone’s number is different, and unlike with closing ratios in sales, you may not know how many “No’s” you have to get through before you get a “Yes.” Stephen King didn’t know that he had to hear thirty “No’s” before getting published. But if he had let the 25th “No” cripple him, then he never would’ve sold over 350 million copies of his books. Too many people get caught up in the discomfort of rejection and allow themselves to make excuses, or allow it to affect their beliefs. Thousands of other people got cut from their high school basketball teams and just said, “Well, basketball isn’t for me. I’m not good enough at it.” Thousands of aspiring writers quit after publishers rejected their work. So how do you handle rejection? Does it cripple you, or does it bring you closer? I strongly advise you to adopt a mentality of “closer” over “crippled.”

What’s up gang? I’m coming to you today with one thing that is guaranteed to dictate if you succeed at anything in life. It may seem that I’m oversimplifying things by saying that there is just one thing, but if you stick with me here, I promise you that this will hold true. Yes, there are many factors to success. On The GRIND, we’re always talking about all the different factors to success. But the one single thing that dictates your success or failure at something is BELIEF! Belief is both the first step to success, as well as the first step to failure. A loss of belief is the catalyst to someone quitting or giving up on their vision. Think about it. Why do people quit? Because they don’t believe they can achieve something, or they don’t believe in the process that will get them there. It’s the single most important factor in all the areas of your life. When you have a true belief in your vision, when you believe that you can achieve your goals, when you believe in the process & commit to it, what is realistically going to stop you? Will there be obstacles? Yes. Will there be adversity? Yes. The question is whether those obstacles & adversity are going to change your belief. If you set out on your goals with a strong belief as your foundation, nothing that gets in front of you is going to stop you. So how do you develop a stronger belief system? The first thing is understanding that belief is a mindset. Here are a few steps to get you there. 1. You’ve got to have a clear, realistic vision of the things you want to accomplish. Write down your goals! 2. Learn from your failures and recognize your accomplishments. When you fail, you must view it as an opportunity to learn. Too many people fail at something and allow it to change their belief in their ability to achieve it. Conversely, you must recognize your accomplishments. Being aware of the progress you’re making will help keep your belief alive. 3. Lastly, MBS!!! Commit to developing yourself mentally, physically, & spiritually. If you have a daily commitment to working on Mind, Body, & Spirit, it will make it easier to see that you are achieving something, and it’ll make it that much harder for adversity to shake your belief system.