Got your attention, didn’t I? Rejection is hard for all of us, but it is especially difficult for younger scientists and engineers who are establishing their careers. I want to give you some advice for dealing with rejection, gained from personal experience. First, I’ll share two true stories.

When I was a division head of the Electro-Optics and Photonics Division of Army Research Lab, I was sitting in my supervisor’s office one day having a serious discussion when his phone rang. He answered and then looked up at me and said, “I have to take this call. Will you please excuse me? “ I replied, “Sure, I’ve been thrown out of better places than this.” As I headed for the door he said, “No problem, I’ve thrown people better than you out of my office!”

My second story is specific to the rejection of research papers. Some years ago, I had just been selected as the next editor-in-chief of Optical Engineering and was also waiting for the decision on a manuscript that I had recently submitted to the same journal. About a month later, I learned that my manuscript had been rejected with two brutal reviews. I read the reviews, and it was obvious that neither reviewer was able to understand the paper because I had not written it clearly enough. I was upset for about five seconds and then moved on. I now laugh when I think about that particular paper.

When you are young or “green,” rejection is more difficult—I remember my early rejections being very emotional. We all take our work very seriously, and younger researchers in particular, who may feel more pressure to publish, see having a paper accepted as a kind of validation.

However, I would like younger scientists and engineers to know that rejection is not that big of a deal for most of us who are later in our careers. If you are entering an area with the intention of publishing at least a few papers a year, there will be plenty of accepted papers. Do the best you can to minimize rejections through good research, clear writing, useful figures, correct format, etc. Another pointer is to be active. If you are submitting papers from several projects or different aspects of your work, then it will not be devastating when one paper is rejected. In a way, it is diversification.

Finally, remember that a manuscript reject decision can provide a good learning opportunity and some useful input for improving the manuscript. Don’t blame the reviewers—their feedback is based on the information that you gave them in the paper. We can all do a better job of writing clearly and concisely. If your paper is rejected because it lacks significance, then consider whether the results will be of greater interest to a different community. Also, use the feedback to assess the work you are currently doing, from the perspective of an editor or a reviewer, to determine whether it is more likely to have lasting value.

The entrepreneur Chris Dixon said, “If you aren’t getting rejected on a daily basis, then your goals are not ambitious enough!” Similarly, businessman Bo Bennett stated, “A rejection is nothing more than a necessary step in the pursuit of happiness.” I have taken quite a few steps in my career!