Personalized insight
How Working Artists Build Resilience & Survive Rejection
Rejection is an important part of being an artist – or any creative field actually.
How can artists learn to handle rejection with resiliency?
Artists can learn to handle rejection with resiliency by separating their ego from the outcome, objectively analyzing what could be improved, and continuously adapting their approach. As an artist and writer, I've learned to use the energy from rejections resiliently, not by stopping, but by asking what could have been done better or differently. This involves evaluating aspects like cover letters, work quality, professional presentation, and initial match suitability. Instead of dwelling on disappointment, transform the experience into a positive learning opportunity to find new ways forward. Remember, you have nothing to lose by trying again, applying insights from previous rejections until you connect with the right opportunity. Resiliency is about making continuous effort and improving your approach, not letting rejection stop you, but using it to refine your direction.
That doesn’t mean that I never feel disappointed. I do. But resiliency means that you don’t stop there.
It’s difficult but I want you to try to separate your ego from the rejection and ask yourself, what could I have done better? Differently?
For example, was your cover letter awkward? Were you showing your best work? Were your materials professionally presented? And was it really a great match to begin with?
Take the time and effort that you’d normally put into beating yourself up and turn the experience into a positive by learning from it and continuing on.
Wasn’t it Einstein who said that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again while expecting different results?
Stop doing the same things over and over!
Stop taking it personally when the same things don’t work. Stop wasting time and energy and start finding new ways instead.
When people say that you have nothing to lose by trying, it’s true. You have nothing to lose. If you asked a gallery to rep your work and they said no, you have lost nothing. They didn’t rep you before, and they still don’t.
You try another, but this time using the insights you’ve learned from the rejection. You continue to repeat until a gallery says yes.
Divorce your ego and feelings of self worth from the outcome. Because that’s not what resiliency is about. It’s about you making the effort and putting yourself out there in better and better ways until you connect with the opportunity that’s right for you.
And that connection will come sooner if you can look objectively at where the weaknesses were and take the steps to improve.
It’s about not allowing rejection to stop you – but using rejection to keep checking the direction you’re traveling in while you continue going forward.
So be brave. And be resilient.
