“What I Learned from 100 Days of Rejection” TED Talk
The TED Talk “What I Learned from 100 Days of Rejection” by Jia Jiang explores the possibility of what can be achieved when individuals make bold moves and accept the risk of rejection while aiming for their endeavors. Jiang explains how much more one can accomplish when expecting to be rejected, but facing his/her fear of failure despite this. To prove this point, Jiang subjected himself to seemingly dead-end scenarios to prove rejection is not as bad as it seems.
Jiang’s speech was captivating, and he had my attention from the start. The most important aspect of a good speech is the subject matter. I found the title and the premise of this talk particularly intriguing, thus prompting me to watch until the end to find out how the Jiang’s experience concluded. Additionally, the speaker had a great hook that instantly piqued my interest in the topic. He began his speech by sharing an experience he had in elementary school where his teacher asked the class to pick out a gift, and compliment one classmate. At the end of the activity, there were three students who had not received a single compliment— one of which was Jiang. He explained how this experience upset him, but made him reflect on the effects of rejection on individuals. He then goes onto share about a time he had been turned down from a business opportunity, which he says further prompted him to experiment with the effects of rejection.
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Jiang could have easily twisted his anecdote at the beginning of the speech to be a sob story, but he instead told it in a lighthearted way that made the experience seem somewhat trivial. Jiang was also consistent about his jokes, but without overdoing it. About 3 minutes into the speech he talked about how much he idolized Bill Gates, and for the next few minutes he would relate everything back to he being a self-proclaimed Bill Gates
Her principal was described as "maniacal" (Wong 1). Wong identified speaking Chinese as an "embarrassment" (Wong 2). The words she chose
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts”
“It’s polite Chinese custom to show you are satisfied,” explained my father to our astonished guests.”” This quote demonstrates proper Chinese culture that is considered rude and disruptive in American culture. What her parents seek to teach her here is to live life as she is and not what others expect her to be.Despite being Chinese in America, she should still respect her culture along with its beliefs and values. A shift in tone is demonstrated from the beginning to the end. At the start, the tone is very condescending and changes to a more respectful tone at the very end of the
Almost instantly when a person interacts with another they judge each other and may form an opinion on the person, without any actual conversation flowing between them. The reason outsiders never fit in anywhere is usually because in those ten seconds they reveal a quirk that others are immediately wary of, or note mentally. Similarly in the short narrative, “Go Carolina,” about a young boy’s struggle with hiding his true self to fit in and to endure speech therapy, the boy - named David mentions how it seems like all the people in therapy were outsiders, and how it seemed they all had trouble with speech because of their outsider statuses. An excerpt from the narrative is, “None of the speech therapy students were girls. They were all boys like me who kept movie star scrapbooks and made their own curtains.” (Sedaris 9). There are some who blend in with the crowd, and some who are picked on for a quirkiness in them that draws them apart while feeling like an outsider. To add to, society is like a hungry lion waiting to pounce on the next innocent who dares disrupt the perfect disaster. A victim of the lion may be Amy Chua who writes with brashness and complete honesty, “For their part, many Chinese secretly believe that they care more about their children and are willing to sacrifice much more than Westerners, who seem perfectly content with
Zhang’s first person narrative, uncensored and informal diction makes her story and experience relatable and one that touches the reader in ways not many other works are able to. This could be because of the fact that Zhang addresses harder to talk about subjects, but for me it was mainly her ability to deliver her truth in all its raw, real and ugly that is uncommon to find. Zhang’s unique style of writing is bold yet does not alienate readers allowing her to be able to share her story, experiences, and thoughts of depression. Zhang believes that “everyone wants to make something touchable, but most of us don’t out of fear of being laughable (Zhang),” and through “How It Feels”, she has created something that is just that,
An individual may never know when an opportunity will come out in one’s favor, however, the ability to accept or decline the offer has a drastic change in your life whether one knows or not. “I got my appointment—of course; and I got it very quickly. It appears the Company had received news that one of their captains had been killed in a scuffle with the natives. This was my chance, and it made me the more anxious to go.” (Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad, 11)
“Over the years, I have come to realize that the greatest trap in our life is not success, popularity, or power, but self-rejection,”Henry J.M Houwen once stated. In the graphic novel American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang, Jin Wang and the monkey king experiences rejection as they interact with society. In the short story Linh Lai by Rebecca Rosenblum, Linh Lai helplessly suffers rejection as she struggles to meet her uncle and Mr. Koenburg’s expectations. In the short story Tapka by David Bezomozgis, people are rejected because of their differences. Rejection by society exists in Tapka and Linh Lai, whereas American Born Chinese incorporates both rejections by themselves and by society. Stories show that people are rejected by society, people in positions of power, or themselves when they are different from the majority.
The scene is always the same: the three of us sitting in a room together, talking. I see her from the corner of my eye, glancing for only a second or two, but always long enough to notice the look on her face, the expression I’ve become so painfully familiar with over the years. I am forced to turn away; the conversation resumes. She is a few feet from us. She hears everything, and understands nothing except what she can gather from the expressions on our faces, the tone of our voices. She pretends not to be bothered, smiling at us and interjecting random questions or comments in Chinese—a language I was raised to speak, a language I’ve slowly forgotten over the years, a language that is now mine only by blood. It is an earnest but usually futile attempt to break through the invisible barrier that separates her from us, and in spite of all her efforts to hide it, that sad, contem...
The desire for positive social relationships is one of the most fundamental and universal human needs. This need has a deep root in evolutionary history in relation to mating and natural selection and this can exert a powerful impact on contemporary human psychological processes (Baumeister & Leary 1995). Failure to satisfy these needs can bear devastating consequences on the psychological well being of an individual. These needs might not be satisfied as rejection, isolation, and ostracism occurs on a daily basis to people. Although being ignored and excluded is a pervasive circumstance present throughout history across species, and humans of all ages and cultures i.e the use of Ostracism (the feeling of isolation and exclusion) has been observed in modern cultures (Woods 1978) Schools and academic institutions (Heron 1987) and interpersonal relationships (Williams 2000). Although ostracism can be seen as a social norm the effect this can have on an individual has the potential of being detrimental to individuals including extreme feelings of hurt. Individuals can respond to rejection in different ways ranging from psychologically to behaviourally. Both psychological and behavioural responses to interpersonal rejection posit theories based on the various paradigms used to stimulate ostracism in experimental settings resulting in s the creation of models by the likes of Williams (2007) and Leary (2009).
In today’s society “failure” is dreaded by most people. In 2013 Oprah Winfrey deliver “The Harvard Commencement Speech” and in 2008 she spoke “The Stanford Commencement Speech,” which both spoke about overcoming failure. Throughout these speeches, the audience learns that failure is something everyone will experience. Winfrey teaches readers that failure may hurt, but failure helps everyone learn from their mistakes and allows them to become a better person. Winfrey tells readers about a time when she failed and instead of feeling sorry for herself, she allowed herself to exceed expectations and change her failure into something spectacular. Oprah Winfrey is an effective speaker because she uses rhetorical devices and
Lindo Jong provides the reader with a summary of her difficulty in passing along the Chinese culture to her daughter: “I wanted my children to have the best combination: American circumstances and Chinese character. How could I know these two things do not mix? I taught her how American circumstances work. If you are born poor here, it's no lasting shame . . . You do not have to sit like a Buddha under a tree letting pigeons drop their dirty business on your head . . . In America, nobody says you have to keep the circumstances somebody else gives you. . . . but I couldn't teach her about Chinese character . . . How to know your own worth and polish it, never flashing it around like a cheap ring. Why Chinese thinking is best”(Tan 289).
Everyone has a role model or someone that they look up to who influences them. “No matter how many losses you take, get back up and face your fears over and over because after a while you’ll start to realize that they were never holding you back at all.” In this quote by Mark Fischbach, whom is more commonly known as Markiplier, a popular video game “let’s player” and commentator, he supports the theme of never giving up on yourself or your dreams because of temporary roadblocks. This quote is only one of many from popular YouTube funnyman that are immensely inspirational for his fans old and young alike. Myself being one of those fans. Markiplier has influenced me in many ways throughout the years that I’ve been subscribed to him, but my main focus for this essay will be most importantly that he taught me (and many others) to take chances, believe in myself, and to not ever give up no matter how hopeless a situation may seem.
Ji-Li felt there was a mistake as everyone told to attend the Class Education Exhibition was handpicked. It was according to “academic and political excellence.” She didn’t want to re-live her past of being a perfect student and a part of every exhibition and promotion and then getting demeaned in front of everyone. She did not want people to know her past as this new school represented a new her in a new life. Ji-Li acknowledged the teachers and staff knew her background. After encountering Teacher Zhang, Ji-Li found out she was chosen for her excellence in many things like Mandarin and was thought to be the best one. Ji-Li half-heartedly accepted the opportunity.
Jobs starts his speech with humor. He said, “I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation,” this statement instantly added an element of humor to his speech and this was well observed by the audience. The opening statements of the speech automatically lightened the mood. Steve jobs’ introduction appeals to the emotions of the audience, giving Jobs a valuable opening into the rest of his speech. In the whole speech, Jobs recites three stories from his personal life, which gave him inspiration.
Staring at him enraged that he would speak badly about my favorite teacher, I dashed at him and yelled, "Don't talk about Mr. Zang that way. OK?" A constant troublemaker at school, Chang-Min was shocked that I stood up to him and looked at me surprised. He thought I was always introspective and would never stand up for myself, and he could sense his hard-earned notoriety slipping away.