Thinking in Public
If I taught one class to teenagers, it would be how to tell a girl you like her.
I think kids today have never practised hearing no. They text it, they ghost it, or they never ask at all. Then they grow up scared to ask for the job, the raise, the sale.
Hearing no is a skill. You build it with reps.
In 2012, Jia Jiang started a blog and video series called 100 Days of Rejection Therapy. He went looking for a no every day for 100 days. The series went viral, and in 2015 he published a book about it, Rejection Proof. Practising rejection on purpose is an idea other people have already built a whole method around.
A rep is one ask that takes under a minute and gets a yes or a no. Ask a stranger a question. Ask a shop for a discount. Ask for the table by the window. Count your noes, and notice that you are fine after each one.
I think this carries to work. The job, the raise and the sale all start with an ask. Someone who has heard no many times can ask again the next day.
Start with the small asks and work up to the one in the story.
And the best rep there is: walk up to a girl and tell her you're interested. Your heart's pounding. You say it anyway.
She says yes, great. She says no, you smile and walk away.
That's the whole class. You asked. You heard no. You're fine.