Be honest with yourself for a moment, what are you not going for because you are afraid of being rejected?
Maybe you haven’t started your podcast yet because you’re afraid of what people might say or you don’t reach out to your ideal clients because you are afraid of them saying no?
Perhaps the book proposal that you spent so long putting together hasn’t been sent off yet because the idea of hearing a no fills you with dread?
(For extra mindset coaching and practical tips, check out this episode of the podcast: Episode #163 How to stop letting fear of rejection hold you back in your business)
Whatever it is, I’d like you to take a deep breath and choose to use this moment as a turning point.
Fear of rejection often comes from imagining the worst case scenario and letting other people decide who you are and what is true and possible for you. Let’s make a decision here and now to be kinder to ourselves and to take action on goals that are important to us.
If there is a project or goal that you are putting off because of the idea of feeling rejected understand these two points:
The only person who can ever truly reject you is yourself
Your desire to share your work with the world has to be greater than your fear of what other people might say or think.
Here are 4 ways to stop letting fear of rejection hold you back in your business:
Give yourself the validation you seek first
On the other side of fearing rejecting is craving validation and whilst it’s natural and even healthy to want some forms of validation, the healthiest form is the validation that you give to yourself from within.
Shower yourself with praise, celebrate your progress and wins and most importantly- VALIDATE YOURSELF.
Ask yourself “What do I need to hear?” and then tell it to yourself. Journalling or mirror work is extremely helpful for this.
Manage your self talk
The most important voice in your entire life is the voice that you speak to yourself with.
Ask yourself “am I talking to myself in a loving and empowering way?”
If your best friend or someone that you really love was wanting to move forward with a project or goal but was afraid of rejection, what would you say to them?
What shifts can you make to your self talk to encourage and empower yourself?
Keep promises to yourself
The stronger your relationship is with yourself, the less you’ll need validation from the outside. One key to building a healthy relationship with yourself is to keep the promises that you make to yourself.
Keeping the promises that you make to yourself will deepen trust and feelings of self esteem and self worth.
What did you say you’d do but didn’t because fear of rejection got in the way? Give yourself the gift of taking action.
Your sense of self
Fear of rejection often comes from allowing others to assign us our identity or sense of self. If a client says no, I’m not very good, if my book proposal gets declined, I’m a bad writer, if someone leaves me a nasty comment or bad review it means I’m (insert negative word here)
The truth is, everything in life comes down to how you see yourself and your sense of identity.
How do you want to see yourself?
What can you choose to believe about yourself to move forward?
All of the TV shows, books and artists that we enjoy today were all rejected more than several times before they made it big because the people behind them kept going and chose to see themselves as successful.
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