Rejection Rehab

Confidence isn’t a personality trait. It’s a prediction your brain makes. In this week’s Rejection Section , Emmy-winning producer Dr. Tom breaks down a fascinating neuroscience paper: “Confidence as Bayesian Probability: From Neural Origins to Behavior” by Meyniel et al., published in the journal Neuron . The research reveals something surprising: Your brain constantly calculates how confident it...

What if confidence isn’t something you’re born with… but something you practice?   Most people avoid situations where they might hear “no.”   Isabelle Daza , one of the Philippines’ most recognizable public figures, actress, entrepreneur, and host of the Sexytime Podcast, has built a career in the spotlight navigating scrutiny, expectations, and constant reinvention.   With a global audience of mi...

What if the life you want is hiding behind a thousand uncomfortable moments? Most people spend their lives trying to avoid rejection. Gabriella Carr decided to chase it. At just 22, and recently featured in The New York Times , she has taken on a radical public experiment: collect 1,000 rejections by deliberately putting herself in situations where she might hear “no.” Auditions. Brand pitches. As...

We used to meet by accident. At bars. At parties. Through friends. Now we meet on screens. But what have we lost in the process? In this week’s Rejection Rehab , Emmy-winning producer Dr. Tom sits down with Claire Warner , hospitality expert, social connection advocate, and one of the most thoughtful voices in the global conversation around alcohol and human behavior. Claire has spent over two dec...

Confidence isn’t something you think your way into. It’s something you build through experience. In this week’s Rejection Section, Emmy-winning producer Dr. Tom breaks down one of the most influential psychology papers ever published: “Self-Efficacy: Toward a Unifying Theory of Behavioral Change” by Albert Bandura. This landmark paper reshaped how psychologists understand confidence, motivation, f...

Why does some rejection make you stronger, while other rejection completely knocks the wind out of you? In this week’s Rejection Section, EMMY winner Dr. Tom breaks down a fascinating psychology study published in PLoS ONE that explains why rejection affects people so differently, and why not all rejection leads to growth. The study explored how the intensity of rejection, combined with a person’s...

What happens when you stop worrying about being seen and start showing up anyway? In this week’s Rejection Rehab, EMMY-winning producer Dr. Tom sits down with Johno Verity, creator of Dawn of History, the wildly popular early-morning history cycling series that has taken social media by storm. Riding through London at dawn in his trademark pink hat, Johno uncovers the hidden history behind everyda...

Rejection hurts — but it hurts most in romantic relationships. Not a job interview. Not a stranger. But someone you care about — or want to care about you. In this week’s Rejection Section , EMMY-winning producer Dr. Tom breaks down a landmark psychology study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology that explains why small moments in relationships can feel devastating — and w...

He started with a paperclip. Now he’s trading his way up to a house. But the real story isn’t about the paperclip — it’s about what happens when you stop being afraid to ask. In this week’s Rejection Rehab , EMMY-winning producer Dr. Tom sits down with Herman Jagpal , founder of Daily Rejection , who spent 365 straight days deliberately putting himself in the line of fire for rejection — asking st...

Rejection doesn’t mean they don’t want you. Your brain just thinks it does. In this week’s Rejection Section , EMMY winning producer Dr. Tom breaks down a brand-new 2024 neuroscience study published in PNAS showing that rejection isn’t just emotional pain — it’s your brain learning . And here’s the twist: Your brain tracks two different signals after rejection — who actually values you, and who si...

He’s a triple board-certified gastroenterologist , Chief Medical Officer for Medtronic Endoscopy , bestselling author, and one of the most influential physician voices on social media today. But none of that made Dr. Austin Chiang immune to rejection. In this week’s Rejection Rehab , EMMY winning producer Dr. Tom sits down with Dr. Chiang for a hilarious, eye-opening, and deeply human conversation...

You can’t control rejection — but you can control your mental state afterward. And science says it only takes two minutes. In this week’s Rejection Section, EMMY-winning producer Dr. Tom breaks down a study published in PLOS ONE showing that a brief self-affirmation exercise (just 2 minutes of writing about your core values) protects the prefrontal cortex — the exact part of your brain that shuts...

She played for Team GB Volleyball at the London 2012 Olympic Games , competed professionally across Europe, and became the first British woman to play in Italy’s legendary Serie A1. But none of that made Ciara (“Ci”) Michel immune to rejection . In this week’s Rejection Rehab, Olympian Ci Michel sits down with EMMY-winning producer Dr. Tom for the most hilarious , raw , and surprisingly relatable...

He showed up at Rockefeller Center asking for help getting his “posh ketchup” on The Dr. Oz Show… and Dr. Tom said no . That rejected pitch—Scott Norton’s Sir Kensington’s—went on to take on Heinz, redefine condiments, and sell to Unilever for a reported $140 million . In this week’s Rejection Rehab, Scott opens up to EMMY winning producer Dr. Tom about the rejections behind the headline: investor...

What if the fastest way to build real confidence isn’t avoiding rejection — but walking toward it? In this week’s Rejection Section of Rejection Rehab, EMMY-winner Dr. Tom breaks down a 2024 psychology study showing that the fear of rejection silently destroys both resilience and belongingness — the two emotional foundations of lasting confidence. Surveying 120 young adults, researchers found that...

He was an ER doctor on NYC’s front lines during the pandemic—then, on shift, he scanned himself and found a tumor. Dr. Calvin Sun—author, world traveler, and NYC candidate for political office—opens up about loss, public service, and what real confidence looks like when rejection (and life) hit hardest. He also shares why he believes that being “always on” and never switching off during COVID cont...

Why do some people bounce back from rejection… while others feel haunted by it for years? In this week’s Rejection Section of Rejection Rehab , EMMY-winner Dr. Tom breaks down a landmark study by Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck and researcher Lauren Howe , revealing why rejection hurts more when you believe it says something permanent about who you are . Across five studies with nearly 900 parti...

They met at church. Broke up over text. Ten years later, Elon Musk tweeted her. In this wildly entertaining episode, EMMY-winner Dr. Tom reunites with former flame Aubrey Strobel — entrepreneur, communications strategist, and Bitcoin/AI expert — for a no-filter conversation about dating disasters, confidence, crypto, and the surreal moment her mom slid into Elon Musk’s DMs. In this episode: • 💔 T...

What do you do when life says “no” twice—first by birth, then by rulebook? Born with a double above-knee congenital amputation, Richard Whitehead MBE grew up hearing limits. Later, Paralympic classification blocked him from competing in the marathon —his signature distance. Instead of quitting, he switched to the 200m , won double Paralympic gold (London 2012 & Rio 2016) and silver (Tokyo 2020...

What happens after you reach the top — then lose everything in an instant? Irish National Cycling Champion Imogen Cotter sits down with EMMY winner Dr. Tom to tell the remarkable story of hitting the peak of her cycling career when a van traveling 60 kph struck her head-on during training. The crash shattered bones — and life as she knew it. But before that, she’d already turned rejection into tri...

Rejection hurts—but what if science proved you could soften the blow ?In this week’s Rejection Section of the podcast Rejection Rehab , EMMY-winner Dr. Tom unpacks a 2020 study by Erika J. Koch showing how self-compassion—treating yourself like a best friend—can dramatically reduce the emotional sting of rejection and speed up recovery. In this episode: 🧠 The 3 studies that prove kindness > cr...

What if 10 seconds of courage could change your life? EMMY winner Dr. Tom sits down with Gregory Benedikt—ex–private equity turned life & leadership coach + TEDx speaker—who shares how “Finance Greg” walked away from a soul-numbing job, slid his number across the table on a café receipt (in front of two people) to the woman who later became the love of his life, and did a 100-Day Rejection Cha...

What do writing a book, chasing speaking gigs, and approaching women at bars all have in common? For Brett Eaton — high performance coach and bestselling author of Uncomfortable Either Way — the answer is rejection reps. In this episode, EMMY winner Dr. Tom sits down with Brett who shares how two years of “red-lined” book edits, speaking to empty rooms, and even getting shot down by women for his...

When life breaks you—literally and emotionally—how do you put yourself back together? In this Rejection Rehab episode, EMMY winner Dr. Tom sits down with Isabel MV —ex-investment banker turned VC specialist and creator of the podcast  And Just Like That, We Found Therapy —who hit rock bottom after breaking her leg and a brutal breakup . She explains how self-rejection crept in (“I’m not good enoug...

Why does heartbreak feel like a gut punch — or even worse than a broken bone? In his first solo episode of Rejection Rehab , EMMY winning producer Dr. Tom breaks down a landmark 2011 University of Michigan study that proves rejection doesn’t just “hurt your feelings” — it literally lights up the same pain circuits in your brain as physical injury. In this 5-minute Rejection Section episode, you’ll...