#213 Stop Avoiding Rejection: It’s Your Shortcut to Success with Andrea Waltz

Andrea, what is it that you would hope that our listener takes away from the show today? One key thing that you think they need to learn from this podcast episode.

It all comes down to having the courage to ask, and my biggest takeaway is that I like to remind people that every yes you've ever gotten required the courage in that moment to hear a no.

Because most of us don't know what the answer is, right, when we're asking for opportunities or chances or favors or business, whatever.

So you have that courage within you, so remember that every yes you've ever gotten required you to have the courage to hear that no, and that's all you need.

So we're braver than what we think.

[laughs]

Absolutely.

I, I think we all forget that, and we think that we need to, uh, protect ourselves and avoid no, and I know we'll get into so much of this during the show, but you know, a lot of us have been raised with the belief that we shouldn't ask, and so we've got a lot of dismantling that we have to do, to be honest.

Absolutely, and as a child, I did receive many, many nos from my parents.

They were extremely strict.

They were post-Second World War migrants who came to Australia, and life was very difficult for them.

There was a lot of racial sledging.

They were in a country where they didn't speak the language, and I received many nos, and I felt that those nos were there to protect me.

I didn't know that at the time-

Right

...

but it was a way for them to protect me.

Do you think that's why a lot of parents perhaps say no to their children?

Yeah, so there's an interesting dynamic there.

Of course parents have to say no, and children, of course, are gonna push the boundaries at all times and ask and see what's possible, and they'll ask repeatedly.

You know, we always joke about how you get to see how kids behave if you're in the grocery store and they ask...

You know, you'll see some kid, and he's in the shopping cart with the mom, and he's asking the mom like, "Mom, can I have a cookie?" And she says no andHe says again, "Can I have a cookie, Mom, please?" And, "No." And, "Can I have a cookie? Just one." "Okay, fine." You know, finally she opens the package or, or gives the child whatever he's asking for.

And so kids learn that they need to push and that persistence pays off.

So there's definitely the safety aspect.

But I wanna mention something to you and, and I don't know if you experienced this while you were growing up.