Peggy Payne knows how rejection can be a good thing:
At 62, I’m still stewing over not being chosen to attend the Governor’s School of North Carolina when I was 16.
It’s true that many good things have happened in my life: a happy marriage, a few books published, fulfilling years in journalism and freelance editing. But the fact remains that at age 16, I was not among those selected to spend six weeks in 1965 at the Governor’s School, a renowned summer camp for brainy teenagers. And silly as it may seem, this rejection has helped my career.
That’s because there’s nothing like a little “I’ll show ’em†to incite ambition. Many people cherish their motivational insults.
“It makes such a difference in your life when somebody tells you ‘no’ and you have enough survival instinct,†says Terry Vance, a psychologist in Chapel Hill, N.C. “It spurs you.â€
Click to the full essay –> Â How Insults Spur Success, New York Times, 16 October 2011.
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