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There are times in your life where you clearly know you missed the target, even before the rejection is a reality.
You are in the middle of the job interview and you fumble over one of the key interview questions. You can tell from the change in tone of the interviewers or the subtle shifts in their seats that, that one answer cemented your failure for sure. There is no coming back from it and no chance for retribution; they may as well end the interview right now.
But you don’t, you persevered and finished the interview, held your head high and shook all your interviewer’s hands, while maintaining eye contact.
You are in the middle of a dinner on a first date and you make the wrong joke. It’s a joke that you did not mean to say, but you are nervous and it came tumbling out of your mouth before you even knew what was happening. You cannot take it back now and the reaction or lack of reaction from your dinner date shows you that they will not be texting you later tonight to make sure you made it home safely. You may as well pay your tab right now and head home to eat ice cream.
Instead, you apologize for your crude joke, ask them some questions about their upbringing, carry on positive conversations throughout dinner and shake their hand, after…
