Literal verbal kung-fu
And how rejection makes you dumber.
Today’s brain gain test:
On a Sunday afternoon, a woman spots a brown bear in the distance. Rather than being afraid, the woman excitedly runs towards the bear. Why wasn’t she afraid?
Answer at the end of the email.
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No.
Would you rather get punched in the face or get rejected?
Spoiler, there’s no difference. Studies show our brain activates the same pain receptors when getting physically hurt or when being rejected.
This explains why most entrepreneurs are unhinged, one way or another. It takes a special (and that’s not necessarily a compliment) type of person to be able to handle hundreds, if not thousands of rejections and still keep going.
If you read the article linked above, you’ll see there are studies that show that heartbreak can lower your IQ.
So it’s basically combat sports.
In the past decade, startups have invested absurd amount of money into transforming unhealthy work standards and personal cults into modern art.
There’s an area of mysticism around every relevant tech leader that makes the company desirable. It’s a great way to attract talent.
A lot of people dream of being the next Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates or Jack Dorsey. It’s glam. You’d dream of at least working WITH them, if not BEING them.
Reminds me of combat sports.
For the sake of a (lateral) mental exercise, try looking at this differently. What if most successful entrepreneurs are actually just high functioning sociopaths? Plenty of data to support that theory, by the way, but that’s not the point.
And yes, I realize I’m digging my own grave with this argument, but we’re thinking laterally here.
Imagine the type of resilience you need in order to face rejection multiple times per day and still perform at high standards.
That’s a great filter to tell if people have potential to be great entrepreneurs or not.
Look at it this way: Muhammad Ali was a spectacular athlete, yet all that abuse in the ring and during training eventually caught up with him.
It’s the same with most entrepreneurs. In order to survive, some learn to dodge punches with various mental gymnastics, some are simply really good at blocking with their face and some are downright mental, “built different”, to quote a recent TikTok trend.
You are not built different.
Statistically speaking, it’s safe to assume you’re part of the majority. That means that you have to develop skills to handle the challenges that life will throw at you.
Personally, I had to train myself to enjoy the process more than the outcome. This has drawbacks. I can’t enjoy victories as much anymore, but at least I dodged the mental toll the hundreds of time I was rejected would have taken on me. It’s not a perfect solution, but it’s one that works in my case.
If you don’t handle rejection well, learn to. It’s a valuable skill in life.
If you don’t know how to reject people nicely, learn how to. They’ll thank you.
This train of thought was inspired by this podcast episode.
Answer: The woman was at a zoo.
Nice!