Rejection Proof: How I Beat Fear and Became Invincible, One Rejection at a Time

Description: Rejection Proof by Jia Jiang An entertaining and inspiring account of conquering the fear of rejection, offering a completely new perspective on how to turn a no into a yes. Jia Jiang came to the United States with the dream of being the next Bill Gates. But despite early success in the corporate world, his first attempt to pursue his entrepreneurial dream ended in rejection. Jia was crushed, and spiraled into a period of deep self doubt. But he realized that his fear of rejection was a bigger obstacle than any single rejection would ever be, and he needed to find a way to cope with being told no without letting it destroy him. Thus was born his "100 days of rejection" experiment, during which he willfully sought rejection on a daily basis--from requesting a lesson in sales from a car salesman (no) to asking a flight attendant if he could make an announcement on the loud speaker (yes) to his famous request to get Krispy Kreme doughnuts in the shape of Olympic rings (yes, with a viral video to prove it). Jia learned that even the most preposterous wish may be granted if you ask in the right way, and shares the secret of successful asking, how to pick targets, and how to tell when an initial no can be converted into something positive. But more important, he learned techniques for steeling himself against rejection and ways to develop his own confidence--a plan that cant be derailed by a single setback. Filled with great stories and valuable insight, Rejection Proof is a fun and thoughtful examination of how to overcome fear and dare to live more boldly. FORMAT Hardcover LANGUAGE English CONDITION Brand New Notes An entertaining and inspiring account of attempting to conquer a fear of rejection, offering a completely new perspective on how to learn from the nos and get more yeses. Author Biography JIA JIANG is founder of the popular blog and video series 100 Days of Rejection. His story has been covered by dozens of news outlets, including Bloomberg Businessweek, Yahoo News, the Huffington Post, Forbes, Inc.com, MTV, Gawker, the Daily Mail, Fox News, and CBSs The Jeff Probst Show. A native of Beijing, China, Jiang came to the U.S. as a teenager to pursue his dream of becoming an entrepreneur. Jiang holds an MBA from Duke University and a bachelors degree in computer science from Brigham Young University. Review "Rejection Proof smashes fear in the face with a one-two punch. Youll laugh out loud at Jias crazy social experiments, but youll also go away thinking differently about what you can accomplish." --Chris Guillebeau, New York Times bestselling author of The Happiness of Pursuit and The $100 Startup "Jias compelling and inspiring book is a wonderful example of how shifting our perspective can allow us to really see what makes us tick." --Dan Ariely, Professor, Duke University, Author of Predictably Irrational "I hope you buy two copies of this book because as soon as you read it, youll want to give it to someone else who needs a boost of bravery too. And your friend is not going to give it back because its not just a book, its a constant companion for the next adventure. So buy two, better yet, buy 10 because its hard to imagine someone who wont be encouraged and challenged by what Jia Jiang has written in Rejection Proof." Jon Acuff, New York Times bestselling author of Do Over: Rescue Monday, Reinvent Your Work & Never Get Stuck and Start "A clever and inspiring read that will change the way you approach anything that may seem out of reach. This book made me want to look fear in the eye...and then kick it in the ass." - Alison Levine, author of New York Times bestseller On the Edge: The Art of High-Impact Leadership "Rejection Proof is a fun, thoughtful examination of how to overcome our fears and dare to live more boldly. You have no idea what you can achieve until you try!" --Nancy Duarte, bestselling author of Slide: ology: The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations "Jia Jiang helps us see the folly in spending our lives avoiding failure and rejection. His advice helps us build powerful companies, careers, brands, relationships and lives. If you are human, you need this book!" -Pamela Slim, author of Body of Work "Every page of Rejection Proof had me both laughing and feeling inspired. Jias 100 days of ridiculous requests of strangers is a journey that will not only make you more resilient, but will also give you insights into persuasion and how to turn "nos" into "yess". Highly recommended." --Kevin Kruse, New York Times Bestselling Author, We "Jia will help you break free of the one thing thats probably held you back most: fear of rejection. His collection of incredible experiments in overcoming fear of rejection will inspire you while it makes you laugh." -- Andrew Warner, founder Mixergy Review Quote " Rejection Proof smashes fear in the face with a one-two punch. Youll laugh out loud at Jias crazy social experiments, but youll also go away thinking differently about what you can accomplish." Excerpt from Book Chapter 1 Meeting Rejection Youre probably wondering why I was standing at this mans front door and what I meant by "special project." Was this a new sales strategy I was practicing? A dare? A social experiment? Actually, it was a little bit of each. It was part of a one-hundred-day journey to overcome my fear of rejection--a journey that gave me a new perspective on business and humanity, and gave me tools to be better at almost everything. By challenging myself to seek out rejection again and again, I came to see rejection--and even the world around me--very differently. It changed my life--and I hope that by reading about my journey, it might change yours as well. But before I tell you what happened next, maybe I should go back a bit--back to the start. It was July 4, 2012, just after sunset. Thousands of people were gathered at our local community park, waiting for the Independence Day fireworks to start. My wife, Tracy, sat next to me on our blanket, rubbing her belly. She was eight months pregnant with our first child. All around us, kids were running with Frisbees and ice cream cones, families were unpacking picnic baskets, beer bottles clinked, and laughter filled the air. Everyone seemed so happy, so filled with summertime joy. Everyone but me. In many ways, I was living the American dream. At just thirty years old, I had a secure six-figure job at a Fortune 500 company. Tracy and I owned a 3,700-square-foot house with a pond view. We even had a golden retriever named Jumbo--the quintessential suburban American dog--and now we were weeks away from the birth of our son. Best of all, my wife and I had an incredible relationship, and not a day went by that I didnt realize how lucky I was to be loved by such an amazing woman. In other words, I should have been overjoyed with my circumstances. But the truth was, I was as depressed as I could be. My misery wasnt personal, though--it was professional. I grew up in Beijing, China, at a time when every school-age child was taught to be a model worker and a building block for the growth of the nation. But being a model worker--in China or anywhere--had never been my dream. Instead, ever since I was little, I had fantasized about being an entrepreneur. While other kids played sports or video games, I devoured the biographies of Thomas Edison and Panasonic founder Konosuke Matsushita, looking for clues about how to become a great innovator. When I was fourteen, Bill Gates visited Beijing, his first-ever trip to my hometown. And I became obsessed with his story of founding Microsoft. I tore down all the sports memorabilia I had on my bedroom walls and made my fantasy about entrepreneurship a life goal. I vowed to become the next Bill Gates and invent an amazing technology product that would take the world by storm. I pestered my family into buying me a brand-new top-of-the-line computer and started teaching myself how to write programming code. I even wrote a letter to them (which I still have) promising that my company would be so successful that I would buy Microsoft by the time I was twenty-five. Drawn in by flashy Hollywood depictions of America and the fact that Bill Gates lived there, I also believed I would one day move to the United States to fulfill that destiny. When I was sixteen, I was presented with an opportunity to become a high school exchange student in the United States and go to an American college afterward. I jumped on it. The transition was difficult, to say the least. The language and culture barriers were a struggle to overcome, and I was sad to leave my loving family. To make matters worse, the situation I walked into was not a good one. My first year in the United States was spent in rural Louisiana, of all places, and the exchange program did a lousy job background-checking my host family. As a result, my first "home away from home" was in the creepy house of a family of criminals. I learned that their older son had been convicted of murder a year prior to my arrival, and it was his bed that I slept in. Even worse, two days after my arrival, my host parents stole all my money. Sleeping in the bed of a murderer and losing all my money was not the introduction to America that Id been expecting. Id left the protective, supportive bubble of my own family in China only to land with a family that immediately broke my trust. It scared me, and I didnt know what to do. Ultimately, I reported their theft to my high school superintendent, who then reported it to the police. My host parents were arrested, and the mortified folks at the exchange program moved me to another home--luckily, the home of a wonderful family. There I not only re-experienced love and trust, gained spiritual faith, I also learned that there are good people and bad people in the world, and they would certainly not treat me the same way. Throughout this shaky start, my dream of becoming an entrepreneur in America stayed as strong as ever. In fact, I didnt believe there was any way that I could fail. Becoming an entrepreneur felt more like my fate or destiny than any sort of choice on my part. The goal was so deeply embedded in my heart that I dont think I could have shaken it if I tried. After one year in high school, and another six months at an English as a second language institute, my English had vastly improved. It was January 1999; I was ready for college. I still remember my first day at the University of Utah. I was just seventeen years old. There had been a snowstorm the night before, and the entire campus was covered in white. I can still hear the sounds my feet made--voo, voo, voo--as I walked through the snow to class that morning, leaving the first set of footprints of the day. The universe was a fresh snowfield in front of me, ready for me to blaze my own trail and become the next great immigrant entrepreneur in America. I had youth, hope, and energy on my side. Everything seemed possible. My first real chance to launch my entrepreneurial dream came while I was still in college. For years, Id constantly been thinking up cool new devices that I could invent. One day, as I was flipping through an old photo album, I saw a picture of myself roller-skating as a kid. Some of my happiest childhood memories were of roller-skating with my friends. Suddenly, I started thinking about how cool it would be to combine a tennis shoe with a Rollerblade. Kids and adults could be walking one moment and gliding around with their friends the next. The world would become a giant rink, and happiness would be widespread! Excited, I pulled out my sketchbook and started drawing out various ideas for how to functionally embed wheels into a shoe. I loved the idea so much that I even drew a formal blueprint to submit with a future patent application. It took me an entire weekend. Afterward, I felt like Id created the Mona Lisa. Sure, it may not have been the most life-changing idea the world had ever seen. But it was my idea, and I thought it was awesome, and it could be the invention that launched my entrepreneurial career. I have an uncle in San Diego--my fathers younger brother--whom Ive always held in extremely high regard. While my parents were both very easygoing, my uncle was very strict and demanding, which somehow made me want his approval even more. To be honest, I was scared of him as a child. But I always knew that he cared about me and wanted me to succeed. After I moved to the United States, he and I became even closer, and I viewed him almost as another father, so much so that I would later name my son after him. I always felt much surer of myself when he liked my ideas and my choices. So I sent him a copy of my drawings, excited to get his reaction to the "shoes with wheels" idea and hoping for encouragement. Imagine my disappointment when instead of support I received a verbal smackdown. My uncle thought my idea was silly, and he chastised me for focusing on something so far-fetched when I should be concentrating on school and improving my English. I felt so dispirited that I tossed my sketches into a drawer and never moved forward with the idea. If my own uncle had rejected my idea, I felt sure that the world would hate it even more--and I wanted no part of being rejected in public by strangers. Instead, I focused on getting good grades and continuing to improve my English. Using thousands of flash cards, I spent many hours every day learning and memorizing new English words. Excelling at school was a surefire way to win the approval of my family, especially my uncle. And I didnt just want their approval--I craved it. I told myself that straight As and an impressive vocabulary might also make me a better entrepreneur someday. My good grades did pay off in some way. I landed a scholarship offer from Brigham Young University, where I transferred and completed college. Yet I felt like Id missed something much bigger. Two years later, a man named Roger Adams patented exactly the same idea (shoe-skates) and founded the company Heelys. In 2007, just after its IPO, Heelys was valued at almost $1 billion. Meanwhile, my blueprint sat in a drawer, gathering dust. Sadly, its not the only blueprint in there. Over the years, Ive come up with dozens of new ideas that I thought had the potential to turn into successful products. But rather than pursuing them, I just added them to the pile--and then gently closed the drawer. Of course, theres no guarantee that my shoe-skate innovation would have succeeded the same way that Adamss did--or that any of my other ideas would have become the foundation of a successful company. But I never even gave them--or myself--a chance to find out. I rejected m Details ISBN080414138X Author Jia Jiang Pages 240 Publisher Random House USA Inc Year 2015 ISBN-10 080414138X ISBN-13 9780804141383 Format Hardcover Imprint Harmony Books Subtitle How I Beat Fear and Became Invincible, One Rejection at a Time Place of Publication New York Country of Publication United States DEWEY 158.1 Media Book Short Title REJECTION PROOF Language English Publication Date 2015-04-16 Audience General/Trade We've got this At The Nile, if you're looking for it, we've got it. With fast shipping, low prices, friendly service and well over a million items - you're bound to find what you want, at a price you'll love! TheNile_Item_ID:92702262;

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