I talked a lot about going to FitBloggin, but I haven't talked a lot about my 2nd conference in Portland, World Domination Summit.
The name throws people off, but World Domination Summit (WDS) is a conference filled with people and speakers who want to be remarkable in a conventional world. There were entrepreneurs, solopreneurs, writers, bloggers, life coaches, and really all sorts of people and the range of ages was amazing. I wasn't sure what to expect, and I was really worn out from FitBloggin'. I'm an introvert. I need my space. I need to be alone for long periods of time – it's how I recharge. Being around 3,000 people drains me faster than running an iPhone battery down while streaming high-def video at full brightness. It's bad, y'all.
As I sat in the theater listening to speakers like Darren of ProBlogger (I've read him for eons), Gretchen Ruben (author of The Happiness Project), and others, I enjoyed myself. I love dynamic speakers and it was a real killer line up of remarkable people. But no one struck me more than Jia Jiang.
image via Chris Guillebeau on Flickr
I didn't know who Jia was. I had no idea what he was going to speak about. But as soon as he hit the stage and started talking, I was riveted. Jia was a tech entrepreneur who found himself faced with major rejection from an investor. He felt completely shattered and deflated. It threw him into a funk (as rejection does to all of us.) He found something called “rejection therapy” and thus started his project in hopes of making rejection sting a little less. Grab a cup of coffee and your undivided attention to watch (not just listen) his story in 25 minutes. (And if you don't have the time right now, please make time for it later.)
Jia Jiang from Chris Guillebeau on Vimeo.
Jia's story struck a chord deep inside of me as my fear of rejection has been crippling at times. I was laid off from a job several years ago and up until about a year ago, still felt the major sting and upset of it. I wouldn't ever ask for little (or big) things for fear of rejection. Jia's presentation has totally flipped my perspective, and it's one of the most powerful “aha” moments I've had in a really long time.
Rejection is nothing more than someone's opinion and preference. It says as much about the person who gave the rejection than the people who receive it. But somehow we take the rejections so personally – we see them as some objective truth about who we are. They're not. Rejection is like chicken. It's either yummy or yucky, it depends on how you cook it. – Jia Jiang
I know this isn't rocket science, but hearing the story made me think, “mind. blown.”
Do you have a hard time dealing with rejection? I'd love to hear what you think about Jia's talk. You can read his blog here, and he's on twitter @jiajiang.
