

Jason Shen's Rejection Therapy Challenge – Week 2 - benchmark
http://www.jasonshen.com/2010/the-rejection-therapy-challenge-week-2/

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twymer
I wonder what his friends will think of him after this. I think if I had a
friend doing this it would be annoying. I mean the rejection therapy idea has
merit, but so aggressively pursuing rejection like this just means you're
constantly asking people to give you things. A lot of it is just strange.

 _I wanted to knock my rejection out right away so when I was at the Caltrain
station, I was looking for opportunities to get rejected. Then I spied a guy
eating a croissant and decided to ask if I could have some. Who gives
strangers a piece of their croissant? He kind of looked at me funny and
pointed at the coffeeshop where he got it, but I insisted that I wanted a
piece of HIS croissant. When he asked “just a little piece?” my heart sank. He
ended up giving me his croissant. I had to eat it, smile, and then slowly back
away. FAILED REJECTION!_

Weird..

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jasonshen
Yeah, I know that can sound weird. I've tried hard not to do things that are
hurt people or are particularly bothersome. But part of what rejection therapy
teaches you is that people don't really care that much about you. That guy has
probably completely forgotten about that incident already (I mean San
Francisco is full of weirdos).

I've been trying to get more meaningful rejections (see the edit I made at the
end just now for an example) but at the same time, I'm going to make sure I
get rejected every day. I've committed to the challenge and I won't back down
now.

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jdvolz
I have to wonder if the head of this thread is actually a rejection that
counts. They're rejecting your use of rejection therapy.

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twymer
I'm only really rejecting a few of his rejection attempts. Overall it's a cool
idea, calling strangers and attempting to share food are where it went over
board.

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wallflower
Week 3 suggestion:

Go to a popular bar. Find a table where there are no seats but more women than
men (ideally all women). Find a chair that is empty (ideally on the opposite
side of the room) and drag it all the way calmly (loudly, of course) to the
table. Smile, sit down, start a conversation with the group

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jasonshen
Oh man - that's a slightly scary but exciting idea. I may have to take you up
on it!

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mkempner
The idea of welcoming rejection, in order to not be afraid of it, has been
inspiring me a lot lately in both personal and startup life. I saw the light
when I was taking improv class and realizing that you can only really do
improv if you embrace looking stupid. It ends up I look stupid loads of times
inadvertently so I might as well go for it.

~~~
G_Wen
Looking stupid should be a side effect of getting rejected and not a path
towards it. It's interesting that you mention improv because rarely ever in
improv do you reject an idea. From what I've seen successful improv is working
with every outrageous thing that your partners can make up while to turn it
into a genuinely enjoyable act. Like you said I believe the point of Rejection
Therapy is not to embrace looking stupid, rather it is to overcome your fear
of doing so.

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aaronblohowiak
Wouldn't a nationally competitive gymnast think rejection as being old-hat by
now? Gymnastics is reputedly one of the harshest sports.

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sunshinemoney
That was an entertaining read. Very ballsy.

