Why Aren't You Taking the Risk?

Failure is nothing more than simply not trying

“I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.” — Pablo Picasso

Sitting with my brother the other day we had a chance to talk about dreams and what we’d love to be when we “grow up”.

My brother Matt loves food and often says he wants to be a food critic. (Side note: he has an incredible ability to pick smells from foods and drinks like no one I know. We tasted a peanut butter whiskey and he said he smelled musty basement. We closed our eyes and took a sniff and he was right).

What holds him back is not knowing the outcome and fear of failure. Sound familiar?

There is a great book The Act of Thinking Clearly that talks about Loss Aversion. Simply put, we fear loss more than we value gain. In fact, it’s been proven that emotionally a loss “weighs” twice that of a similar gain. We feel that the downside is always larger than the upside, and we are simply more sensitive to negative than positive things.

Even in companies, you see the same thinking. Companies want their employees to be more bold and entrepreneurial but like many, they are risk-averse. Better to avoid a pink slip than gain a bonus.

It does make sense - back in the caveman days, risk meant death. It was those who remained cautious that survived. But today, it’s pretty unlikely you are hunting for your next meal and a tiger will eat you, so how do we change this thinking?

For me, when I think about risk, I like to ask myself: what’s the worst that can happen? It’s pretty likely not death nowadays, and in most cases, the worst-case scenario in your head is far worse than reality.

My life was been full of taking risks and failures (just look at my resume) but these risks and failures were my best lessons and lead me to where I am today.

Great, otherwise unforeseen opportunities often come from risk-taking. I took the risk of becoming an independent contractor years ago and walked away from the safety of full time employment. Today, I run a company. Had you told me that would be the outcome back then, I would have never believed it.

Taking risks shows confidence and helps you stand out. When I went out on my own, I quickly found out that with hard work I could close business, handle being on my own, and my confidence continued to grow.

We learn from risks — and those lessons may lead us on an important, new path. Again, I stand where I am today because I decided to walk away from the daily grind of going in and out of New York years ago. It led me down many paths and ultimately to the one I’m on now.

Success won’t fall in your lap — you have to pursue it. We let fear eat at us and tell us it will never work but I’ve learned over the years that if you just put your head down and work, you find opportunities that you never thought existed. And, you take comfort knowing countless others are taking the same risks as you.

You don’t achieve your dreams by playing it safe. The worst thing that can happen is you’ll learn some valuable life lessons along the way and become a better person. That’s not so bad, is it?

“I’ll play it first, and tell you what it is later.” — Miles Davis

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