How to Help Your Kid Become ‘Rejection-Proof’

Like most kids who are five, Jia Jiang’s son Brian hears “no” often. But unlike most kids, who might see the word as their invitation to melt onto the floor and wail, Brian sees it as an opportunity. Or at least that’s what his dad is training him to do.

Jiang is known as “the rejection guy.” Five years ago, he started posting videos on YouTube of his “100 days of rejection” experiment, a personal quest to overcome his deep fear of hearing the word “no.” For the aspiring entrepreneur, the shame around rejection was becoming a constant trap, so he wanted to desensitize himself to it. To do so, he willfully sought out rejection on a daily basis by making odd requests of strangers—he asked for “burger refill” at Five Guys (no), a hair trim at PetSmart (also no), and a lesson in sales from the salesman at a car dealership (sorry, but no). He did get a lot of yeses, too—shout-out to Jackie at Krispy Kreme who graciously granted his request of concocting the Olympic symbol out of doughnuts—but what the experiment really gave him was fearlessness. Now, after hearing his popular TEDx talk about the experience and reading his book Rejection Proof: How I Beat Fear and Became Invincible Through 100 Days of Rejection, people commonly ask him: What can parents do to help their kids better handle rejection, a necessary part of life?

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