Losing that once-in-a-lifetime opportunity
Everyone experiences rejection in their life: a girl you have a crush on rejects you for someone else, a club or society denies you access or membership, a group of friends stops calling you, investors pass on your company, you don’t get the job or promotion, etc.
It happens all. the. time. Sometimes it’s fair, sometimes it’s not. Sometimes you should experience it but you don’t.
If I try to sum it up for myself, I think I’m still on the fair side. I got rejected a lot, but I also got a lot of things I shouldn’t have. That balances it out ok.
But what happens when you think that this time it really was the once in a lifetime opportunity, and now it’s gone? How do you cope with that?
- What happens if you’ve been madly in love with someone you think should be your life partner and they reject you?
- What happens if you have a chance of getting the job you’ve always dreamt about and you get rejected?
- What happens if you don’t get the investor you’re sure would change the fate of your company?
- What happens if you don’t get the deal of lifetime?
Let me tell you what happens: nothing happens. It’s gonna be fine.
Most of the time, the reality is that what seemed like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, wasn’t in fact one.
Most of the time you weren’t even qualified or the right person/team/company for the opportunity, but you can’t realize that until much later.
It’s really hard to cope with it and put things in perspective immediately after being rejected, but it’s nothing else than a stepping stone to something better.
Another girl, investor or job will pass along at the right time, and you’ll discover they’re even better than you could have dreamt about.
Having been told no will make you stronger and if you keep on working hard towards your goals you will have the double satisfaction of showing them how wrong they were, or maybe (should you not have such an exaggerate ego) reconsider their choice.
“Business opportunities are like buses, there’s always another one coming.” — Richard Branson
