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When Mark and Jack tried to publish their first-ever Chicken Soup for the Soul book, they received 144 rejections before they eventually succeeded to find a publisher. Although the book eventually turned out to be hugely successful, reading about this quest I kept thinking that maybe life is too short, and I still keep asking myself if they should have made changes to get accepted by publishers sooner, self-published, or altogether moved on and directed their energy elsewhere. Any thoughts about this extreme perseverance?

That is super inspirational! Yes, sometimes we just have to keep persevering and be positive that eventually everything will work out!!

Olga Markova wrote: ↑14 Feb 2023, 16:54 When Mark and Jack tried to publish their first-ever Chicken Soup for the Soul book, they received 144 rejections before they eventually succeeded to find a publisher. Although the book eventually turned out to be hugely successful, reading about this quest I kept thinking that maybe life is too short, and I still keep asking myself if they should have made changes to get accepted by publishers sooner, self-published, or altogether moved on and directed their energy elsewhere. Any thoughts about this extreme perseverance?

It all depends on context for me, I’m sure for Mark the level of joy once it was published would have been worth it. In other instances sticking to absolutes are maybe not the best idea and can be harmful. At the end of the day I think you need to have perspective and not let one thing dominate your thinking.

Many, if not most, people would have thrown in the towel with that many rejections. But from the book, I got the impression that Hansen, with such a Type A personality, would have continued until hell froze over before giving up on his dream to publish the book. Having received plenty of rejections myself, it's exhausting to be told "no" continually. But Hansen doesn't seem to be the kind of individual who takes "no" for an answer. In this respect, I admire his tenacity. And obviously, it all paid off in the end.

I commend the author’s tenacity in getting the book published and trying 144 times. Should others try this hard? It depends on how much it is impacting the rest of their life. If focusing on that task is not compromising the mental and financial well-being of the author or their family, then keep at it. All that hard work and rejection will make the final success sweeter.

We all have different thresholds to endure rejection and persevere. I applaud the author for his doggedness in pushing through before his book got accepted. I don't know if I can persevere for that long.

I believe there are some cases where extreme perseverance should be avoided, such as enduring an abusive relationship or anything that puts one in harm's way. But in regards to something like getting published -- if you don't have the drive to persevere, you will likely give up before you get anywhere.

What a great question! I think that perseverence is important, but keeping your long term goal in mind is important too. 144 rejections is a crazy amount to persevere through, and it certainly worked out for them, but I think they could have found fulfillment and satisfaction if they had published their book themselves, or even found another route altogether.

I think the question you're asking depends on how truly passionate you are about something. Some people love something to the point that they would chase after it until the very end and they would still see their life as one worth living. However, in Mark's case, his situation of failure wasn't that long. Although he got rejected 144 times, they all happened in very short periods, which means he didn't really waste much time at all. In fact, he got 1.3 million copies sold within the first year, so I'd say the time was very well spend.

I honestly don't think I would persevere for that long.
I admire their rare personalities. It's very inspirational. And I learnt a lot from this.

Sometimes it's worth it. Of course there can be so many other ways to meet one's goal. But sometimes what one feels from their heart is just good enough to stick to it till the end.

Toxic positivity and toxic hustle culture is something I definitely try to watch out for as I'm chasing my goals. But sometimes, getting to where you want to takes giving it everything you have and then more.

I don't think there's ever an extreme to perseverance, so long ad you're pursuing a good course. If you stay on it long enough, favourable answers become inevitable.

I guess it depends. Mark is just one of the fee lucky and fortunate children to emerge successful after such an upbringing. But I would say that his father, Paul Hansen, is the one who led him to make the right decision. By teaching his sons that "Pride of ownership follows pride of ear ship”, Mark was able to develop a compelling mindset which would propel him to the path of success.

I guess it's termed 'believing in yourself.' They knew they had produced excellent work that didn't require change. They just needed to find the person who would see it. This is so inspiring. It's a trait everyone should strive to possess.