Getting used to rejection

Fear of rejection keeps many people from applying, asking or speaking up. Jia Jiang, who spoke about this in a widely watched TED talk, spent 100 days deliberately seeking small rejections, such as asking strangers for unusual favours, and found that rejection hurt less with practice and that people said yes more often than he expected.

You do not need to go that far. Try small asks where a no costs little: ask for a discount, ask a senior for 15 minutes of advice, apply for something slightly above your level. Count your attempts, not only your successes. Rejections become information instead of verdicts.