Leading Indicator of Success: How You Deal With Loss, Failure, Rejection
Many years ago, when I was working as an associate editor for North Light Books (another imprint of F+W Media), I applied for the lead editor position on Writer’s Market….
Many years ago, when I was working as an associate editor for North Light Books (another imprint of F+W Media), I applied for the lead editor position on Writer's Market. I interviewed with three different people in the division. I wanted the job so bad that I would drive around Cincinnati interstates late at night, for 30- or 60-minute stretches, just thinking about how much I wanted that job.
I didn't get it. The hiring manager encouraged me to keep trying to transition to the Writer's Digest community if other positions opened up.
Within 2 weeks, a managing editor position with Writer's Digest magazine was posted. I thought: They'll never hire me for that job. Why bother? I have no magazine experience. And so I didn't apply. Another 2-4 weeks passed, and the job was still posted. I remember staring at the job description in the lunch room, finally snapping out of my self-pity, thinking, Why the hell not? What have I got to lose?
I got the job. The rest is history.
Of the thousands of writers (and creative people) I have met, all have failed at one point or another. No one is immune. That's why I so consistently preach passion and persistence. If you don't have the passion inside you to motivate yourself to continue, you might not find the persistence and strength you need when faced with failure, loss, and rejection.
There isn't a lack of wisdom for writers (or the human race) when it comes to failure.
Making
your mark on the world is hard. If it were easy, everybody would do it.
But it's not. It takes patience, it takes commitment, and it comes with
plenty of failure along the way. The real test is not whether you avoid
this failure, because you won't. it's whether you let it harden or
shame you into inaction, or whether you learn from it; whether you
choose to persevere.
—President Obama
I know right away when I meet a person who has been hardened or shamed into inaction. It can happen to all of us, at some point, especially when we're young and invincible or new to something, and plan to take over the world. Then something happens, we're blocked, and we dip into despair, self-pity.
You can go there, but you must move through it. The longer you let the failure consume you, the more fierce the casualties. The happy (and usually successful) people I meet have a resilience that you can sense when you talk to them—people who understand that failure, loss, and rejection are all part of the game (no matter what game is being played).
I tend to associate failure with loss. Most failure impacts our sense of self, our confidence level—whether we were able to accomplish something. You can lose a piece of yourself in failure, if you let it. It can lead to a loss of identity, a crisis. Loss sometimes triggers a recognition of a failure (both real and not real).
So you have to take failure and shine a different light on it. Think of it as (1) being a part of life and part of the process (2) bringing you one step closer to success (3) a learning moment (4) an opportunity to make a positive change (5) helping you find better relationships and wellsprings of support.
Can you change the light on what's happening? Do it, and you'll be closer to making your mark on the world.
Photo credit: WorldIslandInfo.com

Jane Friedman is a full-time entrepreneur (since 2014) and has 20 years of experience in the publishing industry. She is the co-founder of The Hot Sheet, the essential publishing industry newsletter for authors, and is the former publisher of Writer’s Digest. In addition to being a columnist with Publishers Weekly and a professor with The Great Courses, Jane maintains an award-winning blog for writers at JaneFriedman.com. Jane’s newest book is The Business of Being a Writer (University of Chicago Press, 2018).