Rejection stinks! Whether it’s a KOL declining a meeting or being bypassed for a promotion, it never feels good. It is, however, inevitable. They say it builds character (Did you just roll your eyes?). Since rejection is something we all face, learning to respond to rejection is key. When you are under pressure to meet with an important KOL, that rejection can also result in extra angst. What you do next for yourself can make a difference with what you do next for your KOL. It will begin with the basic you. Take a deep breath, step back, and reframe.

Consider your first response to rejection. Do you get angry, lash out, take it personally, or see it for what it likely is – one more obstacle to move past? Recognizing and processing your feelings is constructive so you can learn and continue on a positive path forward. Your emotions are the gas in your tank. Their job is to energize. They do not, however, belong at the steering wheel. This is where your judgment belongs. The breathing, step back, and reframing keeps the emotions where they belong… And the good thinking where it belongs!

·        Give yourself space to face your emotions and decide how to move forward. Step away from work and do something to relax.

·        Don’t act on your emotions, no matter what you do (e.g. sending a strongly worded email or picking up the phone and giving someone a piece of your mind). It goes without saying that it won’t help the situation. Always, especially under stress, use the draft folder without an address for any email you want to send. This will help you send the email you’d better send, if at all.

·        Remember that you have been successful in the past (probably as recently as earlier today) and this rejection isn’t the end of the world! Spoiler alert… Per Alexander Graham Bell, “When one door closes, another door opens.”

·        And remember that it might just not be an outright rejection, but a “feeling of rejection” by a sensitive (or overly-sensitive) part of oneself. There are many reasons that what looks like a rejection is not that at all. It could be about us, not them.

Take the time you need to process your feelings and get ready for the next steps. If you get tied up in emotion, you will linger on frustration – which isn’t productive. In the wise words of Taylor Swift, you’ll need to “shake it off” and move forward. More on that in our next post.