What are effective ways to handle rejection and failure in animation?

Acknowledging your emotions is a crucial aspect of emotional intelligence and well-being. It's essential to create a space for introspection, allowing yourself to explore and express your emotions in a constructive manner. Ultimately, acknowledging your emotions promotes personal growth and a more balanced, fulfilling life.

Always try to be receptive to feedback without defensiveness. Take time to analyze and understand the feedback. Use feedback as a tool for ongoing learning and development.

The best way to handle criticism is with dispassionate grace. It is also important to fully understand your own strengths and weaknesses and be aware of the type of person you're receiving the criticism from. Couple that with this one sage bit of advice: never give criticism unless you've been asked for it.

Celebrating your achievements is a vital aspect of recognizing personal milestones and fostering a positive mindset. It provides an opportunity for self-appreciation, boosts confidence, and reinforces a sense of accomplishment.

Don't hesitate to seek support and draw inspiration from others. Surround yourself with a network that uplifts and encourages, fostering resilience and providing valuable perspectives on your journey

Every animator ( or artist, maybe even anyone acquiring a new skill ) gets feedback - feedback where someone else is pointing at and highlighting our errors so we can fix them. It hurts. But also, everyone who ventured into making things knows that feeling, the struggles and the pain and will listen when you ask them for support. I never met anyone who wouldn't. And hey, if you had a particularly bad review, write me a message, I promise I'll listen 😉

Taking breaks is not just a luxury; it's a necessity for maintaining balance, clarity, and overall well-being. Stepping back allows you to recharge, gain perspective, and return with renewed energy and effectiveness.

You may never know the reason why a job application did not get a response or received only a no. Many times in the hiring process there are things completely out of your control that can influence their decision to hire or just interview you. Focus only on what's in your control and that's the effort you put in to your work and try to achieve a standard of quality that will get noticed. Keep going!

Winners will fail more times than the losers ever even try. Take it from someone whos an expert at failure, I was getting rejected from Netflix when they were still mailing dvds to my grandmother. I've missed the mark on so many projects it's practically broken my spirit. Now at 43 years old I'm so accustomed to failure that the spark that once burned brightly inside of me has burned out completely. I've kind of forgotten the point of what I'm trying to say. Oh yeah, don't give up.

As long as you don’t give up, you haven’t failed. We all aim for success, and we all fall short sometimes disappointed by our shortcomings. But it’s the lessons learned from our journey and our determination to continue that sets us apart.