My Rejection Story

Alice Draper
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In exclusive interviews, bestselling authors like Tina Wells, Kristen Butler, Jason VanRuler, and Neil Patel share how they navigated the toughest periods of their personal and professional lives, and how this shaped the success they now experience today. Studies show that the stories we tell ourselves about rejection influence whether these failures fuel our ambition and propel us forward, or stifle our growth and hold us back. If your rejection story is holding you back, it is time for a reframe.

  1. 6d ago

    Tiffany Yu on Disability Rejection, The Exclusion Effect, and Turning Exclusion into a Redemption Journey

    What if the deepest rejection isn't one loud "no," but the quiet ones that pile up until you stop noticing them? Alice is joined by Tiffany Yu — CEO and founder of Diversability, three-time TEDx speaker, and author of The Anti-Ableist Manifesto — who was nine years old when a car accident took her father's life and permanently paralyzed her arm. She grew up being picked last in gym class every single day, and internalized a quieter verdict underneath it: that she wouldn't get chosen in the rest of her life either. But what makes Tiffany fascinating isn't the résumé — it's the reframe underneath: that the deepest wounds don't come from one big rejection, they come from "chronic exclusion," the micro-exclusions that stack up until you seat yourself on the sidelines before anyone else can. Tiffany's reframe: exclusion is rarely loud. It's the party you weren't invited to, the captions no one added, the comment asking if your hand "can be fixed" — one remark is fleeting, but at the scale of 7 million views it starts to rewire how you feel about your own body. Her way out wasn't toughening up; it was community. She traces how co-founding a Taiwanese American club at university gave her the template that she then rebuilt as Diversability, and how one member's adaptive climbing invite became the start of a "redemption journey" that now includes the USA Paraclimbing team, a half marathon, and a surfing lesson she took the day before recording. In this episode they explore:  • "Chronic exclusion creates irreversible trauma" — the line from her 2018 TEDx talk that keeps finding people, and why micro-exclusions do more damage than any single "no"  • What a microaggression actually is — the subtle "I don't think of you as disabled" that quietly props up much bigger structural inequities  • The gym-class wound — being picked last every day, and sitting on "the sidelines of the gym and the sidelines of life"  • How a TikTok about her paralyzed arm hit 7 million views • Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria, ADHD, and the research that a child can absorb 20,000 extra negative messages by age 10  • Assimilation as erasure — hiding her Taiwanese American identity, and how co-founding a culture club unlocked her courage Connect with Tiffany Yu:  Website: https://www.tiffanyyu.com Book (The Anti-Ableist Manifesto): https://www.tiffanyyu.com/book   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/imtiffanyyu TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@imtiffanyyu LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tiffanyayu Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/imtiffanyyu Chapters: 00:00 "Chronic exclusion creates irreversible trauma" 00:57 The car accident at nine, and the gym class that became a core wound  03:29 What a microaggression really is 06:00 7 million views and "can it be fixed?" — comments that rewire self-image  08:25 RSD, ADHD, and 20,000 extra negative messages by age 10  09:11 Assuming friction everywhere — and being surprised when access is seamless  11:20 From the sidelines to the redemption journey — surfing, half marathons, paraclimbing  12:05 Assimilation, erasure, and the Taiwanese American club that started it all  15:00 The climbing wall, January 2016 16:48 Internalized ableism and the friction of just showing up  19:42 Searching a Facebook group for "surf" 21:10 The oxytocin of being in the room — why proximity reduces fear  22:57 Defining assimilation as erasure — not acknowledging what makes you different  25:02 Three things that made it easier 28:00 The message is bigger than me — the surgeon who added a mental-health provider 34:32 The 10-minute story vs. the one-sentence version  35:22 NATO — not attached to outcome — vulnerability vs. oversharing, and small wins  41:24 Creating your own opportunity — disability, hiring bias, and a "jungle gym" career  43:00 Getting fired, the "March 3rd anniversary," and the shame we don't talk about  47:43 Building community from nothing 51:33 Where to find Tiffany, the book, and Diversability

    Tiffany Yu on Disability Rejection, The Exclusion Effect, and Turning Exclusion into a Redemption Journey

  2. Aug 19

    Why Losing a Friend Hurts More Than a Breakup with Friendship Psychologist Dr. Kimberly Horn

    What if the loneliest rejection isn't losing a partner but losing a friend? Alice Draper is joined by Dr. Kimberly Horn, internationally recognized research psychologist, public health scientist who spent nearly 30 years studying addiction and health inequalities, and author of Friends Matter, For Life: Harnessing the Eight Tenets of Dynamic Friendship (endorsed by Mel Robbins). After the pandemic, Kimberly watched her own research play out in real time: people suffering less from the virus itself than from deep loneliness. But what makes her fascinating isn't the credentials, it's the reframe underneath: friendship isn't a nice-to-have, it's the most accessible tool we have against a crisis the US Surgeon General declared a public health emergency in 2023. Kimberly's reframe: rejection is data, not a verdict. Friendship loss is real grief but because we choose our friends, with no scripts, no casseroles, no paid leave, it's a lonely, invisible kind of pain society hasn't learned to hold. She and Alice unpack why social atrophy since COVID has left us more sensitive to rejection, why "accessible" doesn't mean "easy," and how self-friending becomes the antidote to the stories we tell ourselves. Whether you've quietly let a friendship fade or you're still stinging from one that ended without explanation, this is a clear-eyed reframe of what friendship is actually for. In this episode they explore: Social atrophy and rejection sensitivity — how losing our social "buffer" during COVID made rejection hurt more Why belonging is a biological need, and fear of the tribe casting us out is wired into rejection The 11-3-6 friendship formula — 11 interactions, 3 hours each, over 6 months — and why it's so much harder to reach as an adult "Accessible doesn't mean easy" — Kimberly on why she wrote the book precisely because friendship is hard Micro connections — the neighbor, the grocery clerk, the person who delivers your Amazon packages — and why they count How to normalize the awkward phone call and the 10pm voice memo in a "not-a-phone-call society" 2026 as "the year of analog" — bringing back inflection, tone, and the nuance texting flattens Acceptance as one of the eight tenets Recalibrating friendships without ending them The Blue Zones question — do communal societies live longer because they can't just opt out of each other? Why we "turn over" friends roughly every seven years — and why a faded friendship still counts Connect with Dr. Horn:  Website: https://www.drkimberlyhorn.com  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drkimberlyhorn  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kimberly.horn.182  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-kimberly-horn-862b3ba5  Linktree: https://linktr.ee/kahorn  Book: Friends Matter, For Life: Harnessing the Eight Tenets of Dynamic Friendship  on Amazon and whichever platforms books are sold Chapters:  00:00 Social atrophy — did the pandemic make rejection hurt more?  02:31 Wired for the tribe: why belonging is biological  03:31 Meet Dr. Kimberly Horn and the loneliness crisis  06:10 30 years of research, and the one factor that kept rising to the top  09:09 "Accessible doesn't mean easy" 10:53 The 11-3-6 formula and the adulthood time problem  13:00 Micro connections: the neighbor, the clerk, the Amazon driver  15:22 How long until we're actually friends? 18:38 Normalizing the awkward call — and the 10pm voice memo   24:46 Acceptance as a tenet — have we gotten less accepting? 28:01 Drawing tighter boundaries as we age — growth or loss? 31:26 Recalibrating, and letting friendships fade without failure  36:55 Recalibration doesn't always mean ending  39:57 Disenfranchised grief: the rejection society won't name  43:06 How to get support when no one brings casseroles  45:31 The shame of friendship rejection and low self-worth  46:32 Self-friending — turning rejection into data, not identity - where to find Kimberly and her book

    Why Losing a Friend Hurts More Than a Breakup with Friendship Psychologist Dr. Kimberly Horn

  3. Aug 13

    Stop Chasing Certainty: A Neuroscientist's Case for Curiosity Over Control with Anne-Laure Le Cunff

    What if the plan you're clinging to for safety is the very thing keeping you stuck? Alice is joined by Anne-Laure Le Cunff — neuroscientist, founder of the newsletter Ness Labs, and author of Tiny Experiments — who was thriving at Google until the morning she woke up to find her entire arm had turned purple. A blood clot threatening to travel to her lungs. Her first reaction in the ER? "One second, I need to check my calendar." That was the life quake that made her question everything — and eventually walk away from the job her immigrant mother saw as the family's hard-won safe spot in society. Anne-Laure's reframe: certainty is a survival instinct, not a strategy. Our brains haven't changed much in a few thousand years, so we still cling to the illusion of control and quietly close doors to growth, connection, and self-discovery. Her answer isn't another blueprint — it's an experimental mindset: small, time-boxed actions run out of curiosity, measured by what you learn rather than the outcome you demanded. She's honest that she didn't handle the uncertainty gracefully — she bolted back into old patterns and started a startup "for all of the wrong reasons," just to have something impressive to say. It was only when that startup failed, which she calls one of the best things that ever happened to her, that she admitted she was lost — and found it liberating. Whether you're stuck in a job that pays the bills but doesn't fulfill you, or already mid-leap into the unknown, this is a candid, science-grounded reframe of what uncertainty is actually for. In this episode they explore: The purple arm and the calendar — the health scare that exposed a life built on saying yes to everything Why "I work at Google" was an identity, and what losing it does to your sense of self Why your brain treats uncertainty as a threat to survival The startup she started for all the wrong reasons, and why its failure was liberating The hero's journey as a mental model for real life — and why we live through it more than once Tiny experiments explained — starting from a hypothesis, not a blueprint Measuring inputs over outputs, and why changing a million things at once tells you nothing Intentional imperfection — why running at 100% everywhere is a recipe for burnout The one conversation with your partner that prevents pointless conflict Self-compassion over self-awareness in "do it all" culture Toxic productivity vs. mindful productivity, and Peter Drucker's fiftyfold stat Becoming "an anthropologist of your own life" Connect with Anne-Laure Le Cunff:Website: nesslabs.comInstagram: ⁠@neuranne⁠Book: Tiny Experiments, https://www.amazon.ae/Tiny-Experiment... Chapters:  00:00 "One second, I need to check my calendar" — the purple arm 00:43 Meet Anne-Laure Le Cunff, author of Tiny Experiments 01:04 The yes girl at Google — imposter syndrome 02:00 The blood clot, the ER, and quitting 03:40 Life quakes and shifting priorities 05:17 Why the brain treats uncertainty as a survival threat 06:47 Clinging to the illusion of control 07:29 Losing the Google identity 09:02 The startup that failed — and why it was liberating 10:18 The hero's journey, explained 12:12 Why we live through multiple hero's journeys 13:09 Tiny experiments as the tool for climbing back up 14:32 Measuring inputs, not outputs 16:13 Intentional imperfection and executive function 18:53 Self-awareness vs. self-compassion 20:39 Toxic vs. mindful productivity 22:02 Anthropologist of your own life — where to find Anne-Laure

    Stop Chasing Certainty: A Neuroscientist's Case for Curiosity Over Control with Anne-Laure Le Cunff

  4. Jul 30

    Why Success Doesn't End Rejection — It Amplifies It

    What if the first person to reject you and the hardest one to recover from,  was you? Alice is joined by Selena Rezvani, Wall Street Journal bestselling author, leadership and confidence speaker, and creator of the viral newsletter that became the Quick Confidence and Quick Leadership series. This episode is a masterclass in overcoming the fear of rejection at work: Selena has half a million followers teaching self-advocacy, yet the rejection she keeps circling back to isn't from a publisher or an online hater. It's the self-rejection that began in a turbulent childhood, where she learned she could earn love by achieving quietly and never needing anything. Selena's reframe: rejection from other people is a moment of contact, self-rejection is the quiet, corrosive one that whispers you're not worthy unless you're in "conquer mode." She traces how trauma-driven overachievement became perfectionism, guilt around rest, and showing up as "the diet soda version of yourself." Then she unpacks how to build confidence at work one rep at a time, naming her inner critic (hers is called Marjorie) and swapping "what if I fail?" for "I'm either going to win or I'm going to learn." The sharp turn: success doesn't end rejection, it amplifies it. She's blunt that eight publisher rejections for one book turned out to be a gift, the idea was a "should," not a "want." Her antidote to the shame spiral is disarmingly simple: "share is a way to repair," because sunlight is the best disinfectant. Whether you're dealing with rejection at work, rebuilding confidence after a setback, or weighing a career risk in a frozen job market, this is a candid, practical reframe of what rejection is really for. In this episode they explore: How to overcome the fear of rejection — and why the first rejection often comes from yourself Trauma-driven overachievement: the survival strategy that later becomes the wound Why success and visibility amplify rejection instead of ending it The "diet soda version of yourself" — how fear makes you show up watered-down How to build confidence at work using rejection as exposure therapy The regret-minimization framework for deciding whether to take the risk How to quiet your inner critic and catch all-or-nothing self-talk Recovering from a bad review or a lower-than-usual score How to handle rejection as a leader — and why eight publisher rejections were a gift "Share is a way to repair" — how talking openly steals rejection's power Job hugging: taking career risks and negotiating in a tough job market "I'm either going to win or I'm going to learn" Connect with Selena: Website: selenarezvani.com LinkedIn / Instagram / TikTok: @selenarezvani Books: Quick Confidence and Quick Leadership Chapters: 00:00 "The first rejection I remember came from me" — self-rejection 04:31 Trauma and overachievement at work 09:15 Confidence, self-advocacy, and self-leadership 11:29 Why success amplifies rejection 15:47 Fear of rejection at work — the "diet soda" self 21:34 "Write the book you wish existed" 29:00 Recovering from a bad review — the keynote that stung 35:56 Quieting your inner critic and black-and-white thinking 44:01 Eight publisher rejections — the gift 49:00 Job hugging and career risk in a tough market 53:59 "I'm either going to win or I'm going to learn"

    Why Success Doesn't End Rejection — It Amplifies It

  5. Jul 22

    How to Stop People-Pleasing as someone with ADHD and RSD

    This episode discusses ADHD, rejection sensitivity, and mental health. It is educational and not a substitute for professional care. What if being "too nice" was never a personality flaw — but your nervous system doing exactly what it learned to do to stay safe? Everyone who loves Alice has told her the same thing: be more assertive! Nobody ever explained how. In this solo episode she chases down her million-dollar question — how a self-described self-sacrificer with ADHD and rejection sensitive dysphoria actually learns to speak up.  Alice's reframe: people pleasing isn't a moral failing, it's trauma-driven behaviour. The link between ADHD and people pleasing runs through rejection sensitivity, emotional dysregulation, and masking — the quiet acceptance that turns "I guess I'll do the dishes" into years of swallowed resentment. She walks through what took her from being the roommate who never said a word to the woman who now asks a table to move over. She's clear she's not a psychologist, so this is the research talking: a 2024 study linking ADHD symptoms to higher rejection sensitivity, a finding that over 90% of adults with ADHD mask socially, a 2025 Lancet Psychiatry review on medication and emotional regulation, Russell Ramsay's work on perfectionism and emotional reasoning, Steven Hayes' acceptance work, and Marsha Linehan's DBT — including a line-by-line ride through the DEAR MAN script you can use in a hard conversation. Whether you've never once sent food back, or you're mid-recovery and still get the RSD flare-ups, this is a practical, research-backed reframe of what assertiveness is actually for. In this episode Alice explores: Why "being more assertive" is useless advice without a method The roommate era that broke her go-with-the-flow approach Is people-pleasing a sign of ADHD? Rejection sensitivity, emotional dysregulation, and masking The 2024 study tying ADHD symptoms to higher rejection sensitivity, and why RSD makes criticism land harder Why over 90% of adults with ADHD mask Calm the storm first: the 2025 Lancet Psychiatry review on ADHD medication and emotional regulation Catch the lie your brain is telling you — Russell Ramsay on perfectionism and emotional reasoning You don't have to win the argument with the thought — Steven Hayes and the ACT reframe DEAR MAN, decoded line by line — Marsha Linehan's DBT script for asking and saying no without fawning Sources:https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12888-022-043566https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0165178125001994https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-020-10115-2 https://www.cbt4adhd.com Source: 2025 ACT systematic review(https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/09727531241300741).Source: Linehan (2015) DBT Skills Training Manual; controlled DEAR MAN study (https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/dissertations/742/).Neff self-compassion research index (https://self-compassion.org/the-research/). Connect with Alice:  Website: hustlingwriters.com Instagram: @alicedraper LinkedIn: Alice Draper Email: alice@hustlingwriters.com.  Chapters: 00:00 "Be more assertive" — the advice with no instructions 01:05 The roommate era: going with the flow curdles into resentment 02:30 From silent to the one who asks the table to move over 03:20 Is people pleasing a part of ADHD? 04:10 Rejection sensitivity, emotional dysregulation, and the 90% who mask 05:15 Step one: calm the storm — medication, DBT, psychiatric care first 06:40 Step two: catch the lie — Ramsay on perfectionism and emotional reasoning 07:45 Step three: don't delete the thought — Hayes and the ACT reframe 08:40 Step four: get a script — Marsha Linehan and DEAR MAN, line by line 11:20 Why a script feels terrifying at first — and stops feeling that way 12:15 Step five: be kind to yourself after the no — Harvard on self-compassion 13:10 Repetition over getting it right: still flaring, doing the hard thing anyway 14:00 A note to the listener: this room, and reaching out

  6. Jul 16

    Is People Pleasing Common in ADHD?

    What if saying "no worries" a thousand times was never politeness,  but a survival strategy your brain built to dodge rejection? Alice wants the answer to be yes: is people pleasing a sign of ADHD? First she reframes herself,  not a people pleaser but a "recovering self-sacrificer." Pleasing from love is a gift. Pleasing because you're terrified of being a burden is something else. If you've ever wondered whether pleasing people is part of ADHD, this one's for you. Alice's reframe: the science on ADHD and people pleasing is messier than the internet admits. People pleasing isn't in the ADHD criteria, and no study pins it directly on the condition, so "is people pleasing an ADHD trait?" doesn't have a clean yes. But ADHD is tied to a stack that can build a self-sacrificer: rejection sensitivity, emotional dysregulation, and masking. The stack: a 2024 study links ADHD symptoms to higher rejection sensitivity. Dysregulation makes feelings hit harder and linger. Over 90% of ADHD adults mask,  the ADHD masking and people pleasing overlap is real. Add thousands more negative comments before age ten, and appeasing looks less like a flaw than a rational way to limit the hits. For a lot of ADHD women especially, pleasing people becomes the default long before anyone names it. Whether you're living adult ADHD and people pleasing, exploring the RSD and ADHD people pleasing link, or trying to understand someone who is, this is an honest, uncertain look at where the evidence stands, grain of salt included, therapist's blessing pending. Next week: how to stop pleasing people when you have ADHD. In this episode Alice explores: Why "recovering self-sacrificer" is a truer label than "people pleaser" Is people pleasing related to ADHD — or something else entirely? Why the confident online take — "people pleasing is just ADHD" — outruns the science Rejection sensitivity, and the 2024 study linking it to ADHD symptoms RSD, ADHD and people pleasing — how rejection sensitive dysphoria feeds the cycle Emotional dysregulation — when feelings hit harder and take longer to settle ADHD masking and people pleasing: the study where 90%+ of ADHD adults hide themselves socially Why ADHD women and people pleasing so often go hand in hand How "yes, that's fine" becomes a survival mechanism when disapproval feels catastrophic ADHD and people pleasing in relationships — where the pattern shows up most The overlap with trauma-world "fawning" — and why some of this may be childhood, not ADHD Does ADHD cause people pleasing? Where the honest answer lands A tease for next week — how to stop people pleasing with ADHD Connect with Alice: Website: hustlingwriters.com Instagram: @alicedraper LinkedIn: Alice Draper Email: alice@hustlingwriters.com.  Chapters: 00:00 "I am a people pleaser — and it might be because I have ADHD" 01:00 Why "recovering self-sacrificer" is the better term 02:00 Pleasing from love vs. pleasing at your own expense 03:00 The research deep dive — and a messier answer than expected 04:00 Rejection sensitivity and the 2024 study 05:00 Emotional dysregulation and masking (90%+ of ADHD adults) 06:00 Stacking it up — when appeasing becomes survival 07:00 RSD and 10,000 negative comments before age ten 08:00 The fawning overlap — ADHD, or early childhood? 09:00 Where this leaves us: a pattern, not a proven fact 10:00 Next week's episode, and one ask for listeners

  7. Jul 1

    The Ellsberg Paradox and Why It Is Kinder To Reject Someone

    What if the kindest thing you can do for someone is reject them clearly, and the cruelest thing is to keep them hoping? In this solo episode, recorded from a Poddster booth at the 1 Billion Followers Summit in the UAE, Alice makes the case that a clean "no" beats a soft maybe every time. She opens with the situationship hot and cold, days of silence, then something romantic and the research that ambiguity hurts more than a clear rejection. She calls it the Ellsberg paradox: we prefer known risks to uncertainty. Her reframe, from client Kelli Thompson: "clarity is kindness, but clarity is difficult." Saying no hurts, but leaving someone to wonder is worse. As an entrepreneur of six years, she's grateful for the "it's not a fit" email. Rejection resilience is a muscle: start small on salespeople, reframe every no as self-respect and respect for the other person, and listen to your body before answering. She cites Gabor Maté's "When the Body Says No" on how yes-saying leads to burnout, then closes with her own housemate story how conflict avoidance eroded a friendship. Whether you fade dates out or wait on replies that never come, this is a sharp reframe of why a clear no is the kinder gift. In this episode Alice explores:  • The situationship and the Ellsberg paradox — why ambiguity hurts more than a clean rejection  • "Clarity is kindness, but clarity is difficult" — Kelli Thompson's framing  • Why the "sorry, it's not a fit" email is a gift, not a snub  • Building the rejection-resilience muscle by starting on salespeople and insurance cold-calls  • Practicing assertiveness with people who can take it before the people who can't • Reframing every "no" as self-respect AND respect for the other person • The coffee-with-someone-who-doesn't-want-to-be-there test • Listening to your body: intrigue, dread, and "good nervous" as decision signals • Gabor Maté's "When the Body Says No" and yes-saying as a path to burnout • The university housemates story — how conflict avoidance eroded a friendship • Why never setting boundaries is unfair to the people who care about you Connect with Alice: Website: hustlingwriters.com/templates.  Instagram: @alicedraper LinkedIn: Alice Draper Email: alice@hustlingwriters.com.  Chapters: 00:00 Situationships and the Ellsberg paradox 01:30 Clarity is kindness, but clarity is difficult 02:30 Getting ghosted by leads — why a clear no saves everyone 03:30 Start small: practicing on salespeople and cold-callers 04:30 Reframe the no as self-respect and respect for others 05:30 Setting emotional boundaries by listening to your body 06:30 Gabor Maté and yes-saying as a cause of burnout 07:15 The good nervous: knowing when a yes is right 08:00 The housemates story, when conflict avoidance erodes friendships 09:15 Why boundaries are fairer to the people who care about you

    The Ellsberg Paradox and Why It Is Kinder To Reject Someone

  8. Jun 24

    Steve Magness: Rejected by Every Agent, He Sold 80K Copies — A Performance Scientist's Guide To Rejection

    What if the spirit of self-sabotage isn't weakness at all, but a quiet strategy to make sure a loss never truly feels yours? Alice is joined by Steve Magness — performance scientist, coach to Olympians and military teams, and the high-school phenom who ran a 4:01 mile, chased Roger Bannister's ghost, and never broke four. In his book, Win the Inside Game, he speaks about choking under pressure in sports and why talented people freeze the moment an audience shows up. But what makes Steve fascinating isn't the elite résumé — it's the self-sabotaging psychology underneath: we don't fear failure so much as being seen as failing, and so we self-sabotage to soften the blow before it lands. Steve's reframe: choking is rarely a skills problem, it's an ego defence — which is self-sabotaging explained in a single move. The student who "didn't really study," the runner who "wasn't really training" — both are pre-building excuses, so a loss never feels fully theirs. That's why self-sabotaging behaviours show up exactly when stakes rise. His antidote is to treat the brain like a muscle: step into the arena on purpose, start small, and rig a friendly audience so your alarm system turns down a notch instead of screaming 'run'. The deeper argument is about who's standing around you, and how that quiets the spirit of self-sabotage. Drawing on toddler-persistence research, the boot-and-nail case, and studies of coaches on the sideline, Steve shows how a calm, believing audience rewires what your brain reads as danger — part of why choking happens at all. He ties this to "the problem of modernity" — we've swapped deep local communities for shallow global connection, candy instead of fruits and vegetables, and lost the support that used to help us get back on the horse. Whether you've been hiding behind a half-effort or you're trying to build something in public, this is a sharp, science-backed reframe of what rejection is for. In this episode they explore:  • Choking as self-protection — why "I didn't even study" is an excuse built before the test • The gym model for courage: start small, never max out the bar on day one • The boot-and-nail case and a predictive brain that manufactures pain that isn't there • Interoception and anxiety — why some people read every twinge as a five-alarm threat • The "problem of modernity": intimate strangers and the community we traded away • The "healer in chief" — why the alpha chimp consoles rather than dominates • The Pygmalion study: fake potential scores that became real test gains • Leading people back from a loss without breaking them • Adam Smith warning his own invention about hyper-individualism • Treating life as a quest — why Steve won't write "Do Hard Things 2"Connect with Steve: Instagram: @stevemagness X: @stevemagness Substack: SteveMagness Newsletter: https://thegrowthequationnewsletter.substack.com/  Books: https://www.stevemagness.com/books/ Chapters: 02:05 Choking as self-rejection 05:31 Treat your brain like a muscle 07:30 Rig a small, friendly audience 09:32 The quest mindset 11:43 The predictive brain and the boot-and-nail illusion 16:55 Interoception, anxiety, and sitting with the signal 23:19 The problem of modernity 28:0 The healer-in-chief 33:31 "I believe in you" and the Pygmalion study 37:13 Leading after a loss 41:42 Adam Smith's warning 46:03 The 4:01 mile that taught Steve outcomes never satisfy 51:45 Crippled by success, and why he won't write the sequel 56:45 Where to find Steve

    Steve Magness: Rejected by Every Agent, He Sold 80K Copies — A Performance Scientist's Guide To Rejection
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About

In exclusive interviews, bestselling authors like Tina Wells, Kristen Butler, Jason VanRuler, and Neil Patel share how they navigated the toughest periods of their personal and professional lives, and how this shaped the success they now experience today. Studies show that the stories we tell ourselves about rejection influence whether these failures fuel our ambition and propel us forward, or stifle our growth and hold us back. If your rejection story is holding you back, it is time for a reframe.

Information

  • Creator
    Alice Draper
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    92
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Alice Draper
  • Show Website
    My Rejection Story

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