Great leaders don’t emerge from a warm, safe cocoon into the world as those leaders. Only an infinitely small amount of people like royalty are born with a path that will lead them all the way to success without any effort. Most truly successful people who live fulfilling, happy lives have learned the skill of taking risks. Without a good amount of risk, you’re going to find yourself inside a safe, warm comfort zone without much challenge, but with a large amount of complacency. The longer you stay there, the more you’ll start to lose the drive and motivation to live a better life.
Of course, taking risks is scary and can at times feel overwhelming, but if you take the right risks and learn some valuable lessons along the way, it’ll get easier every time.
Don’t Be Afraid to Fail
The very first thing you need to know about taking risks, no matter if they’re personal or professional, is that you’re going to fail. You’re probably even going to fail more often than you’ll succeed, but it’s in these failures that we learn both the skill of resilience and the skill of strength in the face of adversity. Just like Winston Churchill famously said, “Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.”
You’re not going to succeed with every risk you take, but successful people who use failure as a chance to learn and to live a better life will gain value from every failure. The lessons you’ll learn from every single failure are invaluable.
Fear is a Tree in the Road You Can Move
Taking risks and making changes is scary. In fact, it’s probably one of the scariest things in our lives. Being scared of it and fearing it is completely normal. Not embracing that change or not taking that risk because of fear means we’re accepting defeat before we even start. We need only look to sports teams who, no matter the strength of their opponent in comparison to themselves, will still turn up and still give it all they have in every game. You might not have much control over the outcome, but if you don’t try or don’t commit, you’re never going to give yourself the opportunity to grow and learn.
If you come across a tree in the road, get out the car and move it. Don’t just park and wait for someone else to come along and move it for you. If you come across a challenge or a risk and you are fearful, stop for a moment, relax, calm yourself down, and do it anyway.
Confidence Really is Key
Have you ever noticed that when you listen to speeches or interviews by famous people or large corporate CEOs that they always sound so sure of what they’re saying? Learning to have confidence in yourself and your abilities can help us easier take risks in our personal and professional lives. Imagine if Bill Gates hadn’t taken the risk and dropped out of college to work on Microsoft products where he might be today? He took a calculated risk and became one of the most successful entrepreneurs on earth. Of course, we aren’t saying you should drop out of school at the first opportunity, because learning which risks are worth taking is as important as taking them.
Choose Which Risks to Take
Taking risks has an incredible benefit. It allows for discovery of ideas, broadening of horizons, movement in careers and personal pursuits, but jumping at every opportunity and taking every risk that comes your way will probably end up doing more harm than good. You need only look at a professional poker player to learn that taking the right risks at the right time is how you are the most successful. One of their most important skills is knowing when to bluff and when to just fold.
You can apply this same logic when presented with a risk. Take a moment to consider it, examine the risk, and what the possible rewards or fall-out might be. Take risks that are considered and realistic.
There are countless academic papers about risk-taking, and they all say the same thing. When you embrace stepping out of your comfort zone and take calculated risks, it can lead you to a better life. Living your entire life in a comfort zone will end up with you regretting the risks you didn’t take. If you’re honest with yourself and think back to risks that you took, do you regret taking them, or do you regret the risks you didn’t take more? Dig deep to overcome your fears, take a moment to consider all the outcomes, and start to take more risks. You won’t regret it.
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