Don't give up: #ShareYourRejection tweets from Hoda Kotb to a writer for 'Orange Is the New Black'

Arianna Huffington's second book, "After Reason," was rejected 36 times.

Hoda Kotb, anchor on NBC's "The Today Show," was rejected by 27 television stations.

Angela Kinsey, star of NBC's television series "The Office," wanted to play the character Pam but was rejected for the part. Two months later, she was called back for the role of Angela.

Failure is part of success and recently the Twitter hashtag "#ShareYourRejection" has been prompting users to share their own stories of rejection to prove the point.

In fact, the ability to deal with defeat is crucial to reaching your goals, says top-rated Wharton professor Adam Grant.

"I don't think there's any skill more critical for success than resilience," Grant, who is also a New York Times best-selling author and organizational psychologist, tells CNBC Make It. "I think about resilience as the speed and strength of your response to adversity. So when you encounter a difficulty, a hardship, a challenge, how quickly and how effectively are you able to marshal strength and either overcome that challenge or persevere in the face of it?"

These #ShareYourRejection vignettes may inspire you to try one more time.

Writer, journalist and entrepreneur

My second book was rejected by 36 publishers. After 25 rejections, I was broke and walked into a bank and asked for a loan, which, shockingly, they gave me. That allowed me to keep going for 12 more rejections. But, as they say, 38th time is charm. #ShareYourRejection

Anchors on NBC's "The Today Show"

.@DylanDreyerNBC, @AlRoker and @HodaKotb tell stories of their rejections for the #ShareYourRejections

Star of NBC's "The Office"

I auditioned to play Pam. I didn't get the part. Two months later they called me in for the role of the bitch in accounting. #ShareYourRejection

New York Times best-selling author and professor

I recently wrote a script for a TV show I was hired to write for and they hated the script and fired me. That one....still stings. But I learned from it. It was my first try. I will do better next time.

It took almost two years to sell an Untamed State, and two different agents. It took seven years to sell Difficult Women.

Oh! I applied for the UCLA job in fiction last year or the year before and didn't even get a phone interview. Whew!

New York Times best-selling author

I posted 4 of the rejections I got on my first novel, THE GOOSE GIRL. It went on to win awards, has had ~30 printings, and 15 years later is still in print. Not every book is for every editor!

Award-winning poet

When you factor in the additional 26 rejections of my first poetry book (before I replaced 76% of it and added another 40%), it was rejected 106 times (at a cost of $2,383), and published 24 years after I wrote my first poem. #ShareYourRejections

Editor at New York Magazine

Sent a résumé to @NYMag. Got a form letter from the mg. ed. that said "we have no job available for you, now or in the future." Couple of years later (under a different m.e.), I got hired. It was 1993. I'm still there. #ShareYourRejection

Correspondent for CBS's "Innovation Nation"

#ShareYourRejection: I've been told over & over by major cable networks that viewers don't want to see a woman hosting a science show. But today I'm meeting up with my showrunner to see the 1st cut of my own science show, premiering on broadcast TV next month. Keep being you.

Cybersecurity reporter at The New York Times

I had an editor at one of my first post-college journalism jobs tell me I wasn't "built" to be a hard news reporter and suggested I try my hand in the fashion or food section. #ShareYourRejection

I was 23, Middle Eastern, and didn't graduate from one of the schools this editor thought journalists should graduate from. He never saw past that. Luckily I had enough sense to write him off, and then emailed him a photo of the first prize I won a few years later.

Screenwriter for "The Post"

I was rejected from the Warner Bros. TV writers' workshop after four years of not selling a single thing. 2 months later I sold THE POST. #ShareYourRejections

Game designer and editor

One folder contains every rejection letter I received. The other folder contains every publishing contract I've signed. #ShareYourRejection

Actor

I played a character on a TV show. The next time the character appeared, they put out a casting notice to replace me. But they said I was welcome to come audition again. I thought "hey, I've sucked before but never gotten a do-over!" I re-auditioned & got it! #ShareYourRejections

New York Times best-selling author

I have enough rejection letters to decoupage a dresser in my office AND I made a piggy bank covered in miniature versions of those rejections for the upcoming @BincFoundation charity auction.

Writer for Netflix show "Orange is the New Black"

I was rejected from the Warner Brothers TV writers' workshop three years in a row. The next year, I got staffed on Orange is the New Black. #ShareYourRejections

Award-winning poet

I keep a spreadsheet w/ all my submissions. Rejections get turned red. Personal rejections get turned dark red. And acceptances get turned purple bc purple is my favorite color. That spreadsheet is an EFFING BLOODBATH, y'all. #ShareYourRejections

Disclosure: NBC and CNBC are divisions of NBCUniversal.

See also:

• Despite 200 rejections, this entrepreneur cold-called a billionaire and got a $1.2 million investment
• When 27 banks rejected Daymond John, his mother's advice saved him
• Founder of food start-up Plated, which just sold for $300 million: 'Dealing with rejection is a necessity'

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