This was SUCH a fun read!

Rejection Proof: How I Beat Fear and Became Invincible Through 100 Days of Rejection, is author Jia Jiang’s account of what happened when he decided to overcome his paralyzing fear of rejection by going toward rejection rather than running away from it.  Jiang set out to be rejected in a new and different way each day for 100 days. He blogged about this, and posted videos of his various encounters, one of which went viral after an employee of Krispy Kreme didn’t reject his request for a custom donut in the shape of the Olympic rings, but merely asked him to give her a few minutes to figure it out.

Sounds a big gimmicky, right? So my expectations of this book were in the “mildly entertaining” category. Wow was I surprised. Jiang’s account has unexpected depth. He’s honest about what drove his fear of rejection and gives the reader the sense that you’re right there with him as he jumps into these challenges and then evaluates what he learns. Rejection Proof has so many “underlineable” observations that I just kept a pen with the book the whole time I was reading. There were many “a-ha” moments and things I hadn’t considered previously, and several of this quotes have stayed with me.

Early in the book, Jiang writes, “When you are not afraid of rejection and it feels like you have nothing to lose, amazing things can happen.” But rather than tout our culture’s usual approach to this (Just BE fearless! Shake it off! Don’t let it get to you!!!) Jiang dissects rejection and tries a variety of different approaches to see what changes things–both his own perspective and his interactions with others. This is interesting, helpful stuff. Highly recommended.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.