Taking Risks
Change is scary. Taking a risk, is like the wind being taken from you. But, change will happen. And risks are required. It was a risk to quit your job but you did. It was a risk to ask your partner out because they could have said, no. It was a risk to put money into that investment. Or buy that home. Or start that business. At times the risk isn’t doing something or starting something, the risk can be sitting back and waiting.
Imagine a world where no one took a risk. Where people didn’t cross borders. Take a stand against injustice. Without risk we wouldn’t have a country, as our founding fathers would have coward at the chance to free themselves from Great Britain. We wouldn’t have cars, computers, cell phones or Amazon. Risk = Rewards.
Elon Musk has this to say on taking risks:
“This is how civilizations decline. The quit taking risks. And when they quit taking risks, their arteries harden. Every year there are more referees and fewer doers. When you’ve had success for too long, you lost the desire to take risks.”
You’re facing risks all the time. Don’t sit back and not take it. On the other side of risk could be reward. That doesn’t mean take unnecessary, unhealthy, dangerous risks. In those moments you should be aware enough of what is a good or bad idea. Don’t act reckless and say you’re taking risks. Sometimes, what you decide on doing could just be plain stupid.
The problem sits when the resistance feels like a risk. Those two things are different. However, they can feed into each other.
When facing a risk it’s important to ask yourself:
What’s on the other side?
What am I not seeing by thinking of this as a risk?
What are the options?
What benefits are on the other side?
What do I gain and lose?
Pros? Cons?
What would happen if I waited?
Is this urgent?
Can I afford to put _________ in? (Money, time, effort, other resources, etc.)
What are your thoughts on this blog? Comment below…
Thought Provoking Questions : What risks are you avoiding and why? The risks you’re thinking of taking, are they unhealthy?
Daily I write and release a daily meditation. A quick read. Sharing wisdom and asking thought-provoking questions. Influenced by the obstacles, success and failures in my life and of others. Using history, books, current events, philosophy, and ancient wisdom. These writings are actionable, thought-provoking, designed to make your life better.
These writings are not to push a way of thinking on the reader or to force you into a certain philosophy or methodology. Rather to give you practical and real ways to handle life. This is an added tool. My writing is simply a discussion, a discourse, with all the material I read, watch, hear and consume.