Wooden's Wisdom | Leadership Resource Center

Issue 627 - Two Sides Of Rejection (Jia Jiang and John Wooden)


Wooden's Wisdom - Volume 13	Issue 627
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TWO SIDES OF REJECTION (JIA JIANG AND JOHN WOODEN) John Wooden Video Clip (2 min. 07 sec.): Coach Terry Donahue asks Coach Wooden: "How can young people keep lifelong commitments?" In his must-read book, "Rejection Proof", Jia Jung provides a step-by-step process on how to effectively make rejection your friend, not something you are fearful of. The book is a result of Jia’s first-person research. For 100 days Jia engaged in a situation each day where he was likely to be rejected (https://www.rejectiontherapy.com/100-days-of-rejection-therapy). Jia points out that "Rejection has two sides." He puts it this way: "I observed a very important fact: people could react to the same request very differently, and it said nothing about me. When you are successful, it is naive to give full credit to your strategy, persistence, or any persuasive abilities you might possess. Outside factors may have played an equally if not more important role in the outcome. On the other hand, when you are rejected, you should not lose confidence in yourself. The "universe" is not making a unanimous judgment on your merits. The "universe" is made up of people with diverse and often polar-opposite personalities, incentives, and backgrounds. Their reactions to a certain request reveal much more about them than about the request itself. Rejection is a human interaction, with at least two parties involved in every decision. When we forget this—and see the people who say yes or no to us as faceless machines—every rejection can feel like an indictment, and every acceptance like a validation. But that’s just not the case." Irrespective of rejections, Coach Wooden kept his "Self-Control," "Initiative" and "Intentness" because he kept this proper perspective. Do you? Click here for personal development exercise: Issue 627. Click here for Printable Poetry: Issue 627. Yours in Coaching, Craig Impelman www.woodenswisdom.com Follow @woodenswisdom	COACH'S FAVORITE POETRY AND PROSE The Loss Is Not So Great It is better as it is: I have failed but I can sleep; Though the pit I now am in is very dark and deep I can walk to-morrow's streets and can meet to-morrow's men Unashamed to face their gaze as I go to work again. I have lost the hope I had; in the dust are all my dreams, But my loss is not so great or so dreadful as it seems; I made my fight and though I failed I need not slink away For I do not have to fear what another person may say. They may call me over-bold, they may say that I was frail; They may tell I dared too much and was doomed at last to fail; They may talk my battle o'er and discuss it as they choose, But I did no sister or brother wrong- I'm the only one to lose. It is better as it is: I have kept my self-respect. I can walk to-morrow's streets meeting all head erect. No person can charge their loss to a pledge I did not keep; I have no shame to regret: I have failed, but I can sleep. Edgar Albert Guest (1881-1959)
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