ATTITUDE-BUOYANT ON A SEA OF REJECTIONS

Some men have thousands of reasons why they cannot do what they want to, when all they need is one reason why they can. Willis Whitney

Q. I’m encountering so many hurdles, it’s becoming more difficult to feel confident about attaining my goals. What do you suggest? E. W., Victoria, B.C.

A. It’s no secret. Every life coach, executive consultant or self-help author will tell you a positive attitude is the key to success. Mega-selling The Secret’s major premise is that your results reflect what you think will or won’t happen. So, if you truly want to achieve your goal(s), why not think positive thoughts?

Here's a personal example. My first book proposal was turned down by 29 (!!!) publishers. Even as one disappointing rejection followed on the heels of another, I just knew in my heart it would be published eventually. I believed it was just too important not to be. I was right. Finally accepted by Penguin Books Canada, Grading the Teacher became a best-seller featured by major media across the country.

My experience isn’t isolated.

When I read my friend Vivian Kaplan's first manuscript, I found it to be a truly compelling read. Yet, it was being returned by numerous publishing houses – some of whose editors strongly suggested she change the genre. She refused. (Her story, told in the first person, was based on her mother’s flight from Vienna to China during the Second World War.) Finally scooped up by Robin Brass Studio, a small Canadian publisher of history books who took a chance with this book, Ten Green Bottles ended up winning first prize in a Canadian competition. To date, it has been re-published by St. Martin’s Press, sold in a bidding war in Germany, and translated for publishers in both Hungary and Italy. It recently garnered another gold award in Italy.

Far more well-known, successful authors were repeatedly rejected. Consider the early non-starting careers of the following:

• Several publishing house passed on J. K. Rowling' s first book. Her Harry Potter books - translated into more than 60 languages and made into box office winning films - have sold 300 million copies so far. She has become a billion dollar empire.

• Award-winning Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen’s first Chicken Soup book was rejected by 140 publishers. Their publishing empire to date has sold roughly 80 million copies with 65 titles published in 37 languages.

• Dr. Seuss's first book was initially rejected by twenty-seven publishers. (For great anecdotes about rejected authors, visit

www.delamar.org/gwrejected.htm.)

Of course, writers are not the only group regularly suffering rejection. History books record the monumental resistance experienced by inventors, innovators, pioneers, theorists and early explorers.

A junior high school teacher told my friend her younger son would struggle as an adult because he was weak in math. He became a hard-working founding principal of a software company that was sold in 2007 for multi-millions. There are infinite accounts of triumphant people in various fields of endeavor who, faced by countless nay-sayers (including friends and family), continued to believe in their ideals, ideas, products or causes.

A positive attitude can even overcome traumatic backgrounds and poverty. When media mogul Oprah Winfrey started her career in high school, she was an unknown with a secret troubled childhood. Bill Clinton’s roots were in alcoholism, physical abuse and poverty.

Facing repeated rejections and failures, the odds of success stacked against them - plus the sometimes mammoth effort needed to succeed - why do people like these persist? It seems they are determined to achieve, driven by an awe-inspiring belief in themselves and their mission.

Think about it: any multi-store or franchise operation originated with one outlet, often by one person working hard to get his or her vision off the ground and running. Such is the case with Brian Scudamore whose summer business morphed within three years into 1-800-GOT-JUNK?.

Your neighborhood restaurant, specialty shop and home-based business grew out of a seed of an idea. Boosted by its creator’s personal passion, drive and optimistic attitude, it became something. Anne Stone finally acted upon an idea incubating for a year about creating a network for women who worked in home offices. Women in a Home Office now has 1000 subscribers and 8 chapters across Canada.

So, my advice to you (and, I must admit, to myself) is: Continue to be upbeat. Consider that you are standing on the edge of opportunity. If you are a student with a paper to write/course to complete; a budding artist on the verge of an uncertain career; or an entrepreneur with a dream to fulfill, focus on how you can accomplish your ends. What must you do to get from where you are at this point to the ultimate goal?

In his book Get Smarter, billionaire Seymour Schulich writes, “Behind every success story is usually someone who beat the obstacles because he or she refused to accept the pessimist’s view.”

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