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The former. This is also why I think my project was substantially easier than what's in the article - when you're doing the same thing everyday you get a lot of

The former. This is also why I think my project was substantially easier than what's in the article - when you're doing the same thing everyday you get a lot of feedback as to what works and what doesn't. There are also a lot of other cues that determine how likely someone is to say yes, and if so, how awkward they will be. After a while you learn to spot people who (due to typical Seattle politeness) will probably say yes, but be uncomfortable in doing so. I ended up avoiding them for the most part.

bpatrianakos 14y ago
I think your project was also easier because of how you approached it, not just the fact that you did the same thing each day. When you say "hey can you take a picture with me for a project" you're giving people a reason for the request and they have this sort of understanding. They may still wonder what the project is and think it's weird but that small detail makes all the difference to me. Now if you were to approach people and say "Can I take a picture with you?" and leave it at that then I'm willing to bet the "no" rate would go up, it would be more challenging, and maybe the tolerance to rejection would be a bit better. I don't want to sound like I'm knocking your method because I'm not and lord knows I'm in need of some serious rejection therapy too and haven't done anything close to what you did. I think that's a pretty cool project and I might try it except I won't tell people why I'm asking the question.
- potatolicious 14y ago
  > "They may still wonder what the project is and think it's weird but that small detail makes all the difference to me." It absolutely does. That said, the guy in the article could also very much say something like "I have a personal project where I make an outlandish request every day" and probably gotten more "yes"es. It's all in the intent - I wasn't out there strictly to get rejected, I was out there to take some cool pictures for a project, and learn a few things about cold-approaching people and handling failure. It wasn't intended as rejection therapy, though it did seem like that in the beginning ;)

bpatrianakos 14y ago

I think your project was also easier because of how you approached it, not just the fact that you did the same thing each day. When you say "hey can you take a picture with me for a project" you're giving people a reason for the request and they have this sort of understanding. They may still wonder what the project is and think it's weird but that small detail makes all the difference to me. Now if you were to approach people and say "Can I take a picture with you?" and leave it at that then I'm willing to bet the "no" rate would go up, it would be more challenging, and maybe the tolerance to rejection would be a bit better. I don't want to sound like I'm knocking your method because I'm not and lord knows I'm in need of some serious rejection therapy too and haven't done anything close to what you did. I think that's a pretty cool project and I might try it except I won't tell people why I'm asking the question.

potatolicious 14y ago
> "They may still wonder what the project is and think it's weird but that small detail makes all the difference to me." It absolutely does. That said, the guy in the article could also very much say something like "I have a personal project where I make an outlandish request every day" and probably gotten more "yes"es. It's all in the intent - I wasn't out there strictly to get rejected, I was out there to take some cool pictures for a project, and learn a few things about cold-approaching people and handling failure. It wasn't intended as rejection therapy, though it did seem like that in the beginning ;)