Are You Ready to Take a Risk?
Photo by R'eyes
Do you enjoy the thrill of taking risks? Or, are you more likely to avoid them whenever you can get away with it?
Think of those successful people you admire. When we read the stories of their achievements, it’s easy to be jealous of how lucky they’ve been. But, when you look at the qualities they’ve shown on the way to the top, you find that what sets them apart isn’t good fortune – it’s their willingness to take risks.
For you and me as well, living our lives to the full means taking some risks to get what we want.
This can be scary because taking any risk involves introducing a degree of change into our lives… and that’s tough, especially when we feel safe with the way things are now. So, how do we make ourselves more ready to take risks and reap the rewards?
I’m a cautious person at heart. It took me a while to appreciate how many potential opportunities I was missing out on before I altered the way I thought about risks. Deep down, we all know that change is a basic requirement for our positive development, although that doesn’t make it any easier for us to take the risks we need to get there.
It’s good to be wary of taking risks because we need to be confident that the possible benefits outweigh the negative consequences of taking action. We should be careful, however, not to be so paralyzed by our analysis that we never take the risk at all.
More often than not, dealing with the consequences of your actions is easier than coping with the regret of not doing something you really wanted to do in the first place.
Why We Build Our Comfort Zones
Children are crazy little risk takers! You too were once an unrestrained risk taker who said and did things you shouldn’t have, but didn’t know it at the time. When you were younger, the idea of risk never entered your mind. You just went right ahead and did it anyway- and to heck with the consequences.
Then, as you started to grow up, other folk told you what you should and shouldn’t do and made you aware of what bad things might happen if you tried it out. Slowly but surely, you stopped taking so many risks. With the help of others, you began to build your comfort zone where you like to stay till this day.
As adults, we become reluctant to take risks because we want to protect our security and what we feel comfortable with. This sense of safety is usually just an illusion, as it’s very difficult to completely control the impact of negative events in our lives.
You might turn down the chance to leave your current employer and go to work with another company for a higher salary because you’re worried about the increased level of responsibility you’ll have to take on. So, you stick with the safe option of what you know and remain in the job you’re familiar with. Then, your company has to lay off staff due to the recession – and you end up stressing about the future anyway.
When I’ve been tempted to stay within my comfort zone, I make a determined effort to try out new things. These don’t have to be risky activities though: I just aim to do things that don’t follow my usual routine. If I’m thinking of taking a risk, I prefer to start with smaller ones at first, then I can build up my confidence with larger risks once I know I’m on the right track.
Re-Define Your Idea of Risk
If you tend to be more cautious in your approach, there are a number of different ways you can think about risks:
Risks don’t have to be big
It can be pretty frightening to tackle massive risks early on. For example, leaving a job to set up your own business might just be a step too far right now. Maybe you’ll do it sometime in the future, but take smaller steps initially that allow you to test the waters. You can try anything that helps to increase faith in your own abilities. A little success goes a long way!
Every time you take a risk – no matter how insignificant it seems – you push the boundaries of your comfort zone that little bit further. When you go beyond what is ‘safe’ in one area of your life, this risk taking attitude will spill over into other areas. For example, if you step outside your safety limits in your working life, you’ll find yourself much more willing to do the same with your personal life, your relationships, etc.
Risks aren’t all or nothing
The key is to strike a balance between jumping in head first and taking no action at all. Doing some research beforehand is essential to give you peace of mind that the risk is actually worth going for. If you still aren’t sure whether it’s the right thing to do, calmly ask yourself what you stand to gain or lose if you do it and fail compared to what will happen if you don’t do anything at all. Can you afford to take the consequences, be they good or bad?
Think about your life right now, and whether or not you’re satisfied with how it’s going. If you’re not, do something a little risky you wouldn’t normally try that isn’t too extreme. Do it again if it works and, if it doesn’t, reassure yourself that at least you gave it a go.
Risks are about embracing failure
Being open to risks is all about feeling comfortable with the potential for failure. One thing’s for sure… you’ll succeed at some things and fail at others. Failure is best seen as an opportunity to learn what’s needed to succeed.
If it all goes belly up, work out what went wrong and take on board the learning points from it. Don’t let your disappointment or embarrassment put you off doing something similar in the future. Next time, just tackle it differently.
By not taking risks, you run the very real risk that you never experience the success you dream of. You end up making do with the average life you’re not really happy with, when a much more fulfilling one is achievable. No matter what the situation is, if you don’t try, you have no chance of succeeding. So, why not get ready to give the risk a go?
What risks are you thinking of taking in your life just now? Do you have any tips on how to tackle a risk successfully?
Please share your thoughts in the comments section below. I’d love to hear from you.
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Perhaps risk are unavoidable. That is, if you want to live the most colorful life you can.
And, besides, taking a risk and failing doesn’t make the world implode. It just means you took a risk and it didn’t work out the way you wanted it to. OK, so now you can take more actions to change your destiny.
While I agree not all risks are wise, many are definitely worth doing.
Some risks aren’t much of a risk at all! If I approach a girl with the goal to get her email address so I can maintain contact I’m risking ‘rejection’. But the funny thing about rejection is you don’t lose anything at all. So to see it as risking something is really committing to an illusion of the mind!
I love the following words in your post:
“More often than not, dealing with the consequences of your actions is easier than coping with the regret of not doing something you really wanted to do in the first place.”
Often the above is true.
Hi Bamboo,
Thankfully (unless you’re a daredevil or have a death wish!) very few risks will cause our world to come to an end. Even, when we take what we consider to be a major risk, ideally we’ve first thought through the consequences and have a back up plan in place. So, as you say, an unsuccessful risk simply means we can now try out alternative ways of reaching our goal.
We’re all too concerned with how we’ll appear to other people if a risk doesn’t come off that we let fear of being embarrassed or rejected hold us back. Focussing on the outcomes of our actions, rather than on our self image, is a much more healthly way to approach risk.
Who actually cares if a risk you took doesn’t work out? Most folk will actually admire you for having the guts to do something that they didn’t dare do themselves.
It about making smart decisions not risky decisions. Think about it thoroughly , weight out the options, and make a decision. Refuse to let you self get caught up in the process of procrastination. Keep the idea of success in your mind and work, work, work, work, work…and did I forget, WORK! =)
Nice post Scott.
Hi Jonathan,
Thank you for your comment… You’re really ‘work’ing it today!
I totally agree – it’s all about making smart decisions and downgrading the risk element. Some actions are just plain stupid to take.
Thinking a situation through first is critical to weigh up the costs/ benefits of the risk, but this preparation needs to be seen as part of a plan: think > weigh up > act or not act > evaluate action and outcomes. It’s easy to get caught up in the first two stages, though.
Hi Scott,
Great post as usual.
The most painful thing to experience is not defeat but regret. –Leo Buscaglia
Taking risk can be a fearful thing which all of us can appreciate.
I like your point about how taking risk in one area spills over into other areas of your life. I believe that life is an integrated whole. You cannot hope to do an action in one area and hope to make it a habit if you don’t carry it out to other areas as well.
Many people are afraid to take risks because they have the wrong attitude towards failure. Instead of seeing failure as an opportunity to learn and grow, they see it as a setback and disaster. But in truth, failure is the only way to lasting success, it alerts us to what we are doing wrong so that we can correct our actions and succeeed.
As you have mentioned, planning is essential to taking risks. Without planning, it is not risk but suicide. There are too many unforeseen variables and you just cause yourself needless trouble without being in the best position to take advantage of opportunities. Still one should be careful not to overplan, so again there is a need for balance as you say.
It also pays to be aware of the times and your actions. With awareness and wisdom that comes from experience, it is easier to succeed in taking calculated risks.
Thanks for sharing!
Hi The Vizier,
Our natural fear of failure is, I think, the biggest barrier to us taking risks. We worry about everything that could go wrong instead of getting fired up about the things that could go right. Working on how we see failure is really beneficial in helping us be more up for taking risks.
Research and planning also helps us in our assessment of risk. But, as you point out, there’s a need to balance out the need for facts with the need to act. We’re never going to be 100% sure any risk will pay off (it wouldn’t be a risk otherwise!). At some point, we have to make a firm decision whether to commit to taking action… or let the opportunity pass by and put it into the ‘what if’ box.
Great message Scott! Risk-taking is the only way for us to break out of our shell into something new. You are right that it doesn’t have to be all-or-nothing and that they are also about embracing failure. This reminds me of a good quote actually…
“Success is the lurking place of failure.” – Lao Tzu
Hi Steven,
Thank you for your comment.
I like the idea of risks helping us break the ‘shell’ of our current lives to allow us to grow. Without this, I guess we become stuck and never go beyond what we are today.
Very apt quote by Lao Tzu too!
Hi Scott,
I definetly am a risk taker. In fact I enjoy taking risks, I believe the reason I’m happy and satisfied is that I take risks and deal with them. There have been times when I failed but such failures taught me a lot and helped me to become a better risk taker :)
In my colorful life I define risks as adventure and who doesn’t want the thrill and excitement of an adventure, the feeling of what is going to happen.
As you mentioned children are risk takers and as they grow older others influence them and tell them what to do and what not. But its not always others, we become more aware and sensible and build our comfort zones. And such a comfort zone is a sign of adulthood, which is good.
However one must make sure is my comfort zone the same as yours. Are we scared of the same thing, its then one must decide I must jump out of my comfort zone and make another another one and by this I mean build such a comfort zone for yourself where you have plenty of space for challenges, differences, and definetly risks.
A very important lesson that I learned in school was”One shouldn’t be a mob follower; always be a trend settler” and the trend settler is definetly a risk taker..
Hi Kiran,
And the best thing thing about adventures is that they don’t have to be grand, once-in-a-lifetime events to transform our lives. Even small, everyday adventures can take us out of our daily routine.
Finding out where the limits of your comfort zone lie is a great first step in taking risks. It’s only by knowing what we feel safe doing, that we can go beyond this. We can then build challenges into our lives which truly test us.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts… and keep on setting your own trends!