6 ms·

If you aren’t getting rejected, your goals aren’t ambitious enough (2010)

53 points by vbv 13y ago

supercoder 13y ago
Who rejected you today ?
- nodelessness 13y ago
  Girl who works in the cubicle down the hall.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
brador 13y ago
Is there an optimal rejection rate? How would you calculate such a thing?
- joelrunyon 13y ago
  This is a good point. If you're getting rejected all the time - what's the chance that you're simply wrong? What's the chance that everyone else is? At some point you have to have some sort of breakthrough or you're just the guy that got rejected 1,000 times.
  - RollAHardSix 13y ago
    Tell that to Thomas Edison... But yes, it would be wise for people to not believe that they are a special and unique snowflake who will succeed no matter what in the face of adversity...the world just doesn't work like that. I guess you could say shoot for the stars, but stay realistic.
    - kamaal 13y ago
      >>Tell that to Thomas Edison... Or for that matter anyone who tried to achieve the impossible. But not all rejections are equal. Some rejections happen because the people at the other end just can't comprehend the very nature of what you are trying to do. Edison's, Wright brother's, Tesla's of the world belong to this category. The world is so disconnected and attached to the ordinary, merely the sight something different makes people look at skeptically at your pursuits. And there are some rejections where clearly the person isn't taking a glaringly obvious feedback given to them. Due to ego, arrogance or pure foolishness.
      - joelrunyon 13y ago
        But they both had some sort of breakthrough (which is exactly the exemption I laid out above).
  - brador 13y ago
    From my back of the envelope calculation, you should be getting rejected at a minimum 1/e ~36% (that's the failure rate due to random chance in a perfect system). Max rejection rate cannot be found due to a tendency to infinity. Key takeaway - don't let your failure rate get below 36%.
- nl 13y ago
  The article actually says: "If you aren’t getting rejected on a daily basis, your goals aren’t ambitious enough."
  - omegant 13y ago
    This is in my experience the hardest part of being a founder. Is where I procastinate the most.
    - nickstinemates 13y ago
      I'm the opposite. I thrive on adversity; I love asking questions and getting to the root of it.
      - omegant 13y ago
        Congratulations! It's really where everybody strugles. You are a natural born entrepreneur.
- michaelochurch 13y ago
  It's not about rejection rates. It's about what you learn, and the progress. Numbers (of this sort) don't matter. Learning tends to happen when things don't go as you expected they would. Unexpected good and bad events can have that effect. Rejection and failure don't have intrinsic merit, and I've seen plenty of people (with the luxury to fail, due to trust funds or connections or whatever) who continually fail and don't grow. But if you never fail-- of course, there are degrees of failure and total failure is uncommon and still undesirable-- you're probably taking too few risks.
donquichotte 13y ago
I quite enjoyed the first comment: "People that reject me are doing me a favor. They're not rejecting me or my product. They're rejecting the combination of me and them together. They're telling me we would have a bad relationship. And they're probably right."
- supercoder 13y ago
  "They're rejecting the combination of me and them together." That definitely still sound like rejection. If you downvote this, you're not actually rejecting the comment but just a combination of you and this comment.
jmnicolas 13y ago
Well I guess if we can transpose this maxim to dating, my goals are mightily ambitious !
- ukoki 13y ago
  This also applies for the job market — if you got an offer with few interviews and little negotiation, you should've asked for more / applied for something more challenging.
nsxwolf 13y ago
Or just maybe - your goals are exactly as ambitious as you want them to be, and perfectly in line with your abilities.
SuperChihuahua 13y ago
Ted talk: Surprising Lessons From 100 Days of Rejection (http://youtu.be/ZFWyseydTkQ http://youtu.be/ZFWyseydTkQ)
- futurist 13y ago
  The video is a classic. Here's what inspired him to do it: http://rejectiontherapy.com http://rejectiontherapy.com
curiouslurker 13y ago
This made my day. Got rejected twice yesterday by funding leads I that looked promising. One told me, the best I can do for you is be brutally honest and spent almost an hour dissecting my business to shreds. The other said "I think you are a great guy and I am sure it will turns out well" with a chuckle, but told the guy who gave me the brutal feed back how effed up my plan was.

53 points by vbv 13y ago

supercoder 13y ago

Who rejected you today ?

nodelessness 13y ago
Girl who works in the cubicle down the hall.

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

brador 13y ago

Is there an optimal rejection rate? How would you calculate such a thing?

joelrunyon 13y ago
This is a good point. If you're getting rejected all the time - what's the chance that you're simply wrong? What's the chance that everyone else is? At some point you have to have some sort of breakthrough or you're just the guy that got rejected 1,000 times.
- RollAHardSix 13y ago
  Tell that to Thomas Edison... But yes, it would be wise for people to not believe that they are a special and unique snowflake who will succeed no matter what in the face of adversity...the world just doesn't work like that. I guess you could say shoot for the stars, but stay realistic.
  - kamaal 13y ago
    >>Tell that to Thomas Edison... Or for that matter anyone who tried to achieve the impossible. But not all rejections are equal. Some rejections happen because the people at the other end just can't comprehend the very nature of what you are trying to do. Edison's, Wright brother's, Tesla's of the world belong to this category. The world is so disconnected and attached to the ordinary, merely the sight something different makes people look at skeptically at your pursuits. And there are some rejections where clearly the person isn't taking a glaringly obvious feedback given to them. Due to ego, arrogance or pure foolishness.
    - joelrunyon 13y ago
      But they both had some sort of breakthrough (which is exactly the exemption I laid out above).
- brador 13y ago
  From my back of the envelope calculation, you should be getting rejected at a minimum 1/e ~36% (that's the failure rate due to random chance in a perfect system). Max rejection rate cannot be found due to a tendency to infinity. Key takeaway - don't let your failure rate get below 36%.
nl 13y ago
The article actually says: "If you aren’t getting rejected on a daily basis, your goals aren’t ambitious enough."
- omegant 13y ago
  This is in my experience the hardest part of being a founder. Is where I procastinate the most.
  - nickstinemates 13y ago
    I'm the opposite. I thrive on adversity; I love asking questions and getting to the root of it.
    - omegant 13y ago
      Congratulations! It's really where everybody strugles. You are a natural born entrepreneur.
michaelochurch 13y ago
It's not about rejection rates. It's about what you learn, and the progress. Numbers (of this sort) don't matter. Learning tends to happen when things don't go as you expected they would. Unexpected good and bad events can have that effect. Rejection and failure don't have intrinsic merit, and I've seen plenty of people (with the luxury to fail, due to trust funds or connections or whatever) who continually fail and don't grow. But if you never fail-- of course, there are degrees of failure and total failure is uncommon and still undesirable-- you're probably taking too few risks.

donquichotte 13y ago

I quite enjoyed the first comment: "People that reject me are doing me a favor. They're not rejecting me or my product. They're rejecting the combination of me and them together. They're telling me we would have a bad relationship. And they're probably right."

supercoder 13y ago
"They're rejecting the combination of me and them together." That definitely still sound like rejection. If you downvote this, you're not actually rejecting the comment but just a combination of you and this comment.

jmnicolas 13y ago

Well I guess if we can transpose this maxim to dating, my goals are mightily ambitious !

ukoki 13y ago
This also applies for the job market — if you got an offer with few interviews and little negotiation, you should've asked for more / applied for something more challenging.

nsxwolf 13y ago

Or just maybe - your goals are exactly as ambitious as you want them to be, and perfectly in line with your abilities.

SuperChihuahua 13y ago

Ted talk: Surprising Lessons From 100 Days of Rejection (http://youtu.be/ZFWyseydTkQ http://youtu.be/ZFWyseydTkQ)

futurist 13y ago
The video is a classic. Here's what inspired him to do it: http://rejectiontherapy.com http://rejectiontherapy.com

curiouslurker 13y ago

This made my day. Got rejected twice yesterday by funding leads I that looked promising. One told me, the best I can do for you is be brutally honest and spent almost an hour dissecting my business to shreds. The other said "I think you are a great guy and I am sure it will turns out well" with a chuckle, but told the guy who gave me the brutal feed back how effed up my plan was.