Stage 6 of 6 · 6 lessons · ~1 week

Setbacks, rejection and keeping your confidence

Confidence is tested when things go wrong. Learn to recover from mistakes and rejection, build tolerance for it, and keep growing your confidence for the long term.

Start: When it goes badly

Lessons· one lesson for each topic, in this order

Do this

Review one recent setback in writing: what went well, what did not, what to change
Make three small asks this week and count them as attempts, whatever the answer
Describe one mistake in three sentences and share the lesson with someone
Help one person a little behind you with something you know
Write your three keep-going habits and put a monthly review in your calendar

Start with· follow one of these

VideoFree
What I Learned from 100 Days of Rejection (Jia Jiang, TEDxMtHood)
Jia Jiang (TEDxMtHood)
What 100 days of seeking rejection taught one person about fear and asking
VideoFree
Why We All Need to Practice Emotional First Aid (Guy Winch, TEDxLinnaeusUniversity)
Guy Winch (TEDxLinnaeusUniversity)
Why rejection and failure hurt, and how to stop them shrinking your confidence

Practise

Meetup
Find local groups where you can practise speaking, helping and meeting new people

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Before moving on: One setback reviewed fairly in writing, three small asks made with a tally of attempts, one person helped with something you know, and a short plan listing the habits you will keep and when you will review them.

Tauseef's advice

The test of confidence is not how you feel on a good day. It is whether you try again after a bad one. Count attempts, not only results, keep your evidence file going, and expect dips. Each time you recover from one, you have more proof that you can.

Struggling right now? If you are in danger or thinking about harming yourself, contact local emergency services or a crisis line: Find a helpline (any country), Umang (Pakistan), Tele-MANAS, 14416 (India).