I’ve heard no at least 10,000 times in my career.
Everyone knows about the 10,000 hour rule, legit or not.
What most people don’t know about is the 10,000 no rule. Throughout my career, I’ve been told no at least 10,000 times. Below are the groups of people that have said no.
Prospects
Customers
Potential partners
Partners
Investors
Board members
Managers
People I’ve tried to recruit
Co-workers
Employees
Suppliers / vendors
Internal finance teams
Attorneys
HR
You get the point
At first, no’s are painful. Then, less so. Some no’s certainly hurt more than others, but after a while, you build up a resilience to it, and the recovery time gets faster and faster.
What used to take weeks to recover from now takes hours and sometimes minutes, depending on the situation. Then, you just keep moving.
Throughout my career, I’ve had way more no’s than yeses and they have helped me develop my resilience muscle, level up my skills and improve my recovery speed – all of which are necessary if you want to do anything meaningful.
So, if you’re early in your career, try and get to 10,000 no’s a fast as possible as you’ll make tremendous progress along the way.
