EPISODE · Aug 13, 2000 · 1 MIN
Get rejected, get filtered
from Derek Sivers
Have you heard of rejection therapy? It’s a challenge — kind of a game — where you make it your mission to get rejected by someone every day. You have to do crazy things, like asking a stranger if you can try a bite of their sandwich. If they say no, you win for the day. The real point of the challenge is to overcome the fear of rejection by constantly exposing yourself to it. Musicians usually send their music only to places that take everything. In other words: places that won’t reject it. It’s easier and feels better. But think of the places that reject most music. Like media outlets, venues, and festivals. Like top professionals: successful agents, promoters, and producers. And ideally, places that usually don’t have music at all. If you look hard for them, you can find them, and do whatever it takes to get your music accepted by them. It takes more work, and you’ll be rejected a lot. But you could approach it like rejection therapy. Because once you get into any of these places, your credibility sets you apart from the rest, and opens more doors. You can even re-approach the places that rejected you before. When you can show that you’ve made it through the filters — the places that weed out the bad music — it puts you in finer company: the best of the best. Many more opportunities will open to you once you’ve earned your way through a few filters.
What this episode covers
Have you heard of rejection therapy? It’s a challenge — kind of a game — where you make it your mission to get rejected by someone every day. You have to do crazy things, like asking a stranger if you can try a bite of their sandwich. If they say no, you win for the day. The real point of the challenge is to overcome the fear of rejection by constantly exposing yourself to it. Musicians usually send their music only to places that take everything. In other words: places that won’t reject it. It’s easier and feels better. But think of the places that reject most music. Like media outlets, venues, and festivals. Like top professionals: successful agents, promoters, and producers. And ideally, places that usually don’t have music at all. If you look hard for them, you can find them, and do whatever it takes to get your music accepted by them. It takes more work, and you’ll be rejected a lot. But you could approach it like rejection therapy. Because once you get into any of these places, your credibility sets you apart from the rest, and opens more doors. You can even re-approach the places that rejected you before. When you can show that you’ve made it through the filters — the places that weed out the bad music — it puts you in finer company: the best of the best. Many more opportunities will open to you once you’ve earned your way through a few filters.
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Get rejected, get filtered
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