How can I overcome fear of rejection when pivoting and testing new work?

Think of it like building a muscle through repetition. Consider someone who had to make 500 sales calls a day for a year—the sheer number of rejections they received was staggering, but it completely eliminated their fear of rejection. They became an expert at starting conversations and had no hesitation trying new approaches. Similarly, successful creators accumulate massive rejection—like a well-known writer who showed a six-foot high stack of rejection letters, saying ‘You see my published articles, what you don’t see is my rejection letters.’ Even Picasso died with 45,000 unsold works—those were all pivots and experiments along the way. The key is understanding that rejection is the norm for really successful people, and your fear diminishes the more you practice pivoting and testing.

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Asked by general teaching · Answered by Patrick Shanahan · art-marketing-podcast · 2021-01-15