This is Part 18 of a 25-Part Series on 25 Elementary Principles for Success in Life.

 

“When defeat comes, accept it as a signal that your plans are not sound, rebuild those plans, and set sail once more toward your coveted goal.”

- Napoleon Hill

 

Principle 18 – Persevere Through Rejection for Success in Life

Rejection is a Necessity for Success in Life

Everyone who had ever achieved great success in life had faced the rejection devil before. This devil is a powerful foe that can rob us of our pride, hope and self esteem, if you let it. There is one sure way to overcome the rejection devil and that is to face another rejection until he wears out. The formula against rejection is very simple: keep moving on to the next possibility until you hit success.

Stories of Rejections that Inspire Success in Life

 

“There’s no reason to be the richest man in the cemetery. You can’t do any business from there.”

- Colonel Sanders

The Sanders Court & Café started by Harland Sanders was doing fine serving travelers to Florida through the town of Corbin, Kentucky. Sanders’ chicken was special and even attracted a Governor to bestow upon him the title of Kentucky Colonel for his delicious eleven herbs and species fried chicken. In the early 1950s, a new Interstate Highway fried his café and left his business on the brink of collapse as it offered a direct route to sunny Florida. Suddenly, Sanders was face with the option of closure or the chance to rebuild elsewhere. Thankfully for the world he chose the entrepreneurial route.

But it was a journey filled with rejections and ridicule. In his travels across states to market his business, he was rejected more than 1000 times. Nobody thought that an old man in a strange all white suite calling himself a Colonel would be able to succeed with a fried chicken business. After facing every rejection, Colonel Sanders just moved on to the next prospective partner and client. Finally, in 1952, he finally found a believer in Pete Harman in South Salt Lake, Utah. They started the first Kentucky Fried Chicken joint and the rest is history. Today we have over 11000 KFCs worldwide serving some of the best fried chicken to countless millions. What would have happened if Colonel Sanders had given up before meeting Pete Harman? Giving up because of rejection was not an option for Colonel Sanders.

 

“I take rejection as someone blowing a bugle in my ear to wake me up and get going, rather than retreat.”

- Sylvester Stallone

 

When Sylvester Stallone first started out pursuing a career in life, all he wanted to do is to become a writer of screen plays and movies. He also wanted to act in his own movies. But when Stallone was born, he had to be delivered with a forceps because there were complications at birth. As a result, he had the looks he has today.

When he auditioned for film jobs, he was laughed at and rejected many times. When he sent his publications and manuscripts to publishers to consider, he was ridiculed because they thought the stories were stupid and predictable. Stallone persevered and never gave up. In order to hold onto his dreams, he continued taking on odd assignments and submitting his scripts, earning very little in the process.

Even when he came up with the original scripts for Rocky, no one thought that it was a good movie script given the economic difficulties and the Vietnam War in the early 1970s. When a producer finally agreed to make a film from his script, Stallone insisted that he starred in it as well. The producers went berserk and refused. But Stallone held firm and insisted that he acted in his own film. Despite the promise of huge sum of money for not acting in his own film, Stallone stood by his principles and said, “No”.

Eventually, he had to accept a much lower fee for his script to star in his own movie. Again, the rest is history. If Stallone had given up with Rocky, we would not have the six Rocky Films as inspiration plus the RAMBO series and many more films which Stallone starred in. He had made the world a better place by saying no to rejection when he first started.

 

“Don’t worry about failures, worry about the chances you miss when you don’t even try.”

— Jack Canfield

 

When Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen first wrote Chicken Soup for the Soul, they faced great difficulties publishing the book. Many publishers rejected their book because they thought the title and concept of the book was not sellable. Every time a publisher rejected their book, they simply moved on to another one and tried another approach. Eventually they came up with an idea to pre-sell their book to their seminar participants. They got every participant to sign an agreement to buy their book if they managed to get their book officially published. Eventually, they got 20000 commitments to buy their books through this way.

The only problem was no publisher would take their book. So they continued approaching publishers. After over 130 rejections, they finally managed to get a publisher who would be willing to work with them. The rest is history. Since publication, Chicken Soup for the Soul has sold over eight million copies and it has also spawn countless Chicken Soup series. Millions has been inspired by these Chicken Soup stories. You can be sure many more books will be published and millions more will benefit from this. All because Canfield and Hansen refuse to let rejection beat them.

Do you have a story of rejection that inspires success in life? Share with us. Tell us what strategies you use to overcome rejections to success in life.