Week 12

Let’s talk about two very important “R’s”: Risk and Rejection. What do you immediately feel upon reading those two words? Are you uncomfortable? Are you inspired? Are you challenged?

I would imagine the scales are tipped more towards hesitation when people think about risk or rejection. Who would want to run toward those things? Let’s consider what we believe and really think about these two concepts though.

When you hear the word rejection, do you automatically think failure? If so, don’t worry, you’re among the majority. What if rejection was actually a gift though? Do you know what’s worse that rejection? Nothing. Now, I don’t mean nothing is worse than rejection, I mean nothing is worse than rejection (aka doing nothing is worse than trying something and being rejected for it). What does rejection do for you? It teaches you something, it shifts your direction, it challenges you, it closes doors. What does avoiding rejection do for you? Nothing. You stay complacent. You don’t learn anything. This is when you will find yourself describing your reality as “feeling stuck”.

I’ve experienced some serious rejections in this year already and I won’t lie - they’ve been super painful and hard in a lot of ways. BUT while the closed doors hurt, the possibility of other open doors is really exciting. I have already learned so much and grown so much. One of the most helpful ways to reframe your mindset around rejection is realizing that it is actually forward momentum. If you were to look at a chart of your life, I imagine most people would view rejection as a big dip (or falling backwards) on the path forward. The reality is, the needle is actually moving forward quicker and you are gaining a much richer experience.

Do you remember that carnival game where you shoot a stream of water at the target and the horses race each other to the finish line? Odds are, if you are aiming at the target, you’re going to miss the bullseye a few times…but the more you try, the farther you’ll get. The person who doesn’t keep trying is the one who really loses. This is the same with risk and rejection.

If you want to start a business. If you want to talk to that person. If you want to make a video for that local business in your town. Go for it. If you get rejected - celebrate it! You learned something. You are now leaps ahead of so many other people in life. That’s the actual truth. One of these days, you won’t get rejected. The risk will pay off. It is guaranteed you will never know if something will work if you didn’t risk the rejection.

I hope this encourages you this week and brings some peace around the experience of rejection. In fact, I believe it’s actually beneficial to seek rejection sometimes (meaning: entering situations where you have a high probability of being rejected). I am not denying that it hurts but I am definitely saying it’s worse to not try.

This week’s creative challenge:

AN EXTRA FOR THOSE WHO MAKE IT TO THE BOTTOM OF MY EMAILS :)

I’ve never shared this before, but I created a Notion template of how I track my personal and business expenses each year. This is the exact system I use. It may not be for everyone but if you’re interested, you will get the template and a video walkthrough of how I personally use the system.

**This template is included free within the More Than a Filmmaker community.

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Have a great day!

Best, Jordyn

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