It can sting when we’re not picked. “Don’t they see my potential? What am I doing wrong?”

Not getting picked can lead to self-doubt. It can make us second-guess our worth.

But all it means is that we weren’t picked. That’s all.

Our options are to obsess about why we weren’t picked, or to “pick ourselves” and move on.

Tom Brady — one of the most successful quarterbacks in the history of American football — was the 199th pick in the 2000 NFL Draft. (He was passed over 198 times.)

Prior to her political career, Margaret Thatcher was an aspiring chemist. The personnel department at one major chemical company rejected her job application, deeming her to be “headstrong, obstinate and dangerously self-opinionated.”

Now a legendary film director and producer, a young Steven Spielberg was rejected from the University of Southern California’s film school. Twice.

And famously, twelve publishing houses rejected J.K. Rowling’s manuscript for the first book in the Harry Potter series.

We don’t stop because we didn’t get picked. We keep going, and we end up better for it.