081 How to take risks (safely)

Do you like to play it safe? If it’s not broke, don’t fix it? Maybe the whole idea of taking risk scares you. Here’s how to take risks—safely.

This week’s Inspire Me quote is from comedian Jim Carrey:

“You can fail at what you don’t want, so you might as well take a chance on doing what you love.”

Ninety percent of people have regret about something in their lives—and, often it’s about the risks they didn’t take.

There are plenty of good reasons to take risk. Here are just three:

• No risk. No reward. If you want to move ahead, risk is necessary.
• Stretches you as a person. You learn more about yourself and develop new skills and abilities when you step out and take risk.
• You become more personally appealing. People who take risk are more proactive and attract people to them.

Taking risk is an act of faith. Not a blind faith, but an informed one. There’s a difference between venturing and adventuring. Venturing is for the long-haul and benefits others. Adventuring is for personal entertainment.

We may not take risk out of fear of loss (usually economic loss) or because it may preclude us from keeping other options open.

There are three steps to taking risk safely:

• Attitude. Focus on what you hope to gain, not what you hope not to lose. Choose to “play to win rather than playing not to lose.”
• Ask. What would I do if I were given a windfall of $10,000 or $50,000?
• Act. Work the answer to the previous question backwards. What’s the smallest meaningful step I can take toward implementing that idea. Work on the minimum viable outcome.

List your fears into two categories: excuses and challenges. This helps bring clarity on what is really possible.

This week’s Challenge Me:

First place to start, identify the risk you might be resisting. When you listened to this episode, was there something that kept coming to mind? What’s the smallest, but effective, step you could take with it?

Resources mentioned or related to this podcast that may be helpful to you:

• Are you building a bridge or a plank, Episode 80 Reinventure Me Clinic applies the principle of leverage to one man’s situation.