Seth Godin:

“Years ago, I self-published a booklet for political activists. My timing was good, and I had a chance to sell the books from an organizer’s booth at a march on the very topic my book was about. It was a beautiful April day, and I stood on the side of route as the march went by. More than 400,000 passed my table, and I sold four books. That’s 399,996 rejections. Maybe more. Was it the price? Halfway through the march, I lowered it from $10 to $1, just to have a good story to blog a few decades later. Sales did not increase. Perhaps it was the color of the jacket, the page count or the typo on page 32? None of those things. What did I learn? That people at a march are at the march to march, not to shop. Watch what people do, not what they say. And if you really want to learn something, change the situation and see what happens the next time. Learning from rejection begins with understanding the lesson that’s being offered.”

Seth’s book The Dip has stuck with me throughout my life to spot, ‘am I in a dip, or am I in a dead end?’ I would highly recommend anyone read it because it is timeless and it will save you a lot of time.