Hey Reader,

I take rejection harder than your average bear.

When someone says "no thanks" or "we went with another provider" or (the worst one) nothing at all, it stings.

Then it stings again a few hours later when my brain decides to replay it in high definition.

Rejection sensitivity is a common neurodivergent characteristic, and if you just read that and thought "oh no, same"... hi 👋. You're among friends here.

So this week I did the thing I apparently always do when something makes me deeply uncomfortable: I ran directly at it.

(In high school, I was TERRIFIED of public speaking so much that I joined the speech and debate team. I SUCKED, but at the last tournament, I got an honorable mention. That ribbon was one of the happiest days of my teenage life.)

The experiment: instead of avoiding rejection, I made rejection the goal.

I built a dashboard with Claude that tracks my asks, and when someone tells me no... confetti. 🎉 Actual confetti, on my screen. The first time it fired, I felt a little thrill instead of a gut punch.

This week's scoreboard: eleven asks. Three nos. One yes. A whole lot of silence.

Instead of hitting send and thinking "oh no, what are they going to say," I'm thinking "I hope they get back to me so I can log my rejection." The silence stopped meaning anything at all.

The yeses were never the point. Doing the asking is the point.

Do you have an ask you're avoiding? A follow-up you keep not sending. A dream client you haven't reached out to because what if they say no.

What if they do? You've survived every no you've ever gotten. So have I. Even the ones that stung twice.

Hit reply and tell me the one ask you've been putting off.

I'll check back in with you to see if you made it — actual accountability, from someone actively trying to rack up rejections.

Worst case, they say no, and I celebrate on your behalf. I've got the confetti for it.

Yours in rebellion,
Michelle

P.S. Yes, I built a rejection dashboard before sending the actual asks. Productive procrastination or neurodivergent genius? We may never know.

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Dr. Michelle Mazur Message Strategist & Founder of The Expert Up Club ​YouTube / 3 Word Rebellion Book​

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