When you don’t get a callback or book the job you’ve auditioned for, do you beat yourself up or do move on easily?  It might be comforting to remind yourself that every successful person has been rejected along the way!

If you’d like some proof, here are a few to inspire you…

“Fred Astaire: Can’t act. Can’t sing. Balding. Can dance a little.”
~ MGM Talent scout, 1928.

“You ain’t goin’ nowhere, son. You oughta go back to drivin’ a truck.” ~ Jim Denny of the Grand Ole Opry, Nashville, Tennessee, firing Elvis Presley in 1954 after just one performance.

“You had better learn secretarial work or else get married.” ~ The Blue Book Modelling Agency in 1944 rejected a very disappointed Miss Marilyn Monroe.

After his first audition, Sidney Poitier was told by the casting director, “Why don’t you stop wasting people’s time and go out and become a dishwasher or something?” It was at that moment, recalls Poitier, that he decided to devote his life to acting.

“Mr. Reynolds, you have no talent. Mr. Eastwood, you have a chip on your tooth, your Adam’s apple sticks out too far, and you talk too slow.”  ~ A Universal Pictures boss said, dismissing Burt Reynolds and Clint Eastwood at the same interview in 1959.

Nice to know, right?  Look, we ALL get rejected at one point or another in this business.  The question is, what how are YOU going to react to it?

Rejection can easily make us feel like our bright future is somehow being detained. Yet, sometimes not getting what we want WHEN we want it is a great stroke of luck.

What if you grew more trusting in your path, and believed that everything is working out for you exactly as it should? If you adopt this mindset, then when things don’t seem to go the way you planned, you can find the gift in it and move forward easily.

When you focus on what IS working in your life, you will easily attract more things to feel good about.  I was planning on winning an Emmy + then getting married + having a family, but the bigger plan for my life was clearly to enjoy my family first!  What a gift!  What perfect timing!

And I am now an even better actress from the life experience of being a parent.  My first pregnancy helped me to slow down and truly trust in life’s divine timing.

It was during that time I created The Ultimate Audition + Performance Collection, a comprehensive mindset toolbox to help creatives consistently perform in high-pressure situations, which has now helped me book countless jobs, and used by hundreds of actors around the world.   Amazing!

So, try treating your next rejection as a gift.  Let it help you build a deeper sense of trust in yourself and in the timing of it all.  You never know what amazing experience is just around the corner for you!

Here are 5 Ways to Handle To Rejection

1) Take Inventory
Rejection can provide useful information and create a time for self-examination. Is there anything you can learn from the experience? If you can get feedback, it can sometimes be constructive….If there’s something useful, use it, and let the rest go.

2) Take Nothing Personally
Timing is everything. So they went another way on the role or the agent didn’t sign you, so what?!  Why beat yourself up for NOT getting the role or the agent, when you have no idea what lies ahead! You could end up getting called in for a bigger and better role that you are even more perfect for or finding a better agent that will ultimately be a better match.

So instead of wasting all that time feeling bad, skip it and keep going!

3) Everyone Gets Rejected
Even the person who booked the job when you didn’t gets rejected too! There isn’t an actor on the planet who gets every single job he/she auditions for. Know that rejection is part of the game, and everyone has to deal with it.

The choice becomes in how you allow it to affect you. Don’t use rejection as an excuse to spiral downward. Use it as a learning opportunity that propels you forward!

4) Focus on The Positive
You may not have control over who hires you for what, but you do have control of your reaction to it all. It’s easy to spiral downward when you’ve worked hard on an audition, and you don’t even get a callback. Instead, focus on how good it feels to be in the game.

Babe Ruth could not have been the home run king, without being the strike out king. It’s about getting up to bat. Appreciate playing in the game, and know, in time, it will eventually lead to a home run!

5) Believe In Your Journey
The best way to deal with rejection is to know that each job you don’t get, gets you even clearer on what you do want. Maybe some of the jobs you didn’t get you might not have really wanted anyway?

Believe in the bigger picture of where you are headed. See it, visualize it and embrace the journey, and pretty soon it won’t matter which jobs you don’t get, because you so deeply trust and believe that everything is working out exactly as it should!  A strong belief in yourself will always attract positive experiences–maybe when you lease expect it!

Now put it into action.
If your mind is racing with thoughts about what you don’t have and what isn’t going right in your life or career, try taking a few deep breaths and declaring this instead…

I trust in the timing of my life.

I trust in the timing of my journey as an actor.

I easily embrace every experience I have had along the way.

I know that everything is unfolding for me exactly as it should.

I embrace all the opportunities that come my way and trust that the roles I don’t get are leading me to something even better.

I know that everyone successful actor got rejected along the way.

I embrace rejection as part of the journey, and use it deepen my belief in myself.

I let go easily and move on with my life and my career.

I take a deep breath in and know that I can get to where I want to go from where I am right now.

I exhale and let go of beating myself up for not being further along.

I am on my way.  I take nothing personally.

I am having fun on this acting journey.

You have more power than you know.
And you are closer than you think.

Leave a comment below + tell me how YOU handle rejection.