We should embrace rejection

By David Smith. Try again, try harder and try often.
There is a thick black binder crammed at the back of my office filing cabinet. The label down the spine reads: Thanks for coming out. Whenever I’m feeling lazy or listless about my research, I dig up that old binder, open it to a random page, and read one of the dozens of wonderful rejection letters that I’ve received over the years. They are all there, from the reviewers’ reports on the manuscript I submitted to Current Biology last month to the result of my first scholarship application, to that interview I never received for that lovely liberal arts college. More...