How to conquer risk-taking
Life is all about taking risks. If you never take a risk, you will never achieve your dreams. Is this statement true?
An unknown author wrote a poem with the title: ONLY A PERSON WHO RISKS IS FREE. I quote from it.
To try is to risk failure.
But risks must be taken, because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.
The people who risk nothing, do nothing, have nothing, are nothing.
They may avoid suffering and sorrow,
but they cannot learn, feel, change, grow, love, live.
Chained by their attitudes they are slaves;
they have forfeited their freedom.
Only a person who risks is free.
According to this poem therefore taking risks is often the difference between merely existing & truly living.
Just think about the world we live in: Everything we have & use today, for example the laptop you are using now, the possibility of speaking to people on Zoom all over the world at the same time, all emerged because someone, somewhere, dared to take a risk.
But why is it that some people shy away from risks, while others embrace it eagerly? One reason is fear. Fear of failure, fear of the unknown, fear of what others might think.
According to Brené Brown courage is a skill that you can learn to master and is contágious (as fear!), but courage requires vulnerablí-ty. Vulnerabílity is uncertainty, not knowing, but doing it anyway, because it is a brave thing to do. Vulnerabílity is the willingness to choose courage over comfort, to stop being armoured all the time! Courage requires the managing of uncertainty, risks & emotional exposure & the ability to stay in it. She says that fear has a short shelf life, but courage is the birthplace of innovation, creativity (kree-ay) & change, to dare greatly, to not be afraid to fail.
We often tend to see failure as the end, but with courage it could be seen merely as a stepping stone on the path to success. Every failure teaches us invaluable lessons, propelling us forward toward our goals with newfound wisdom and resilience. Thomas Edison said: I didn’t fail a thousand times. The light bulb was an invention with one thousand steps. … Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try… just one more time!!
By taking risks I of course do not mean blindly jumping into the unknown. It should start with small steps, that eventually become more calculated leaps of faith, backed by careful planning, analysis, and growing confidence in our abilities. It’s about stepping outside our comfort zones and challenging ourselves to reach new heights.
If we think about the most successful entrepreneurs, innovators, and leaders, we realise that they didn’t achieve greatness by playing it safe. They understood that growth and progress require boldness, courage, and a willingness to face uncertainty head-on.
Taking risks isn’t just about achieving personal success. It’s also about making a difference in the world around us. Whether it’s standing up for what we believe in, pursuing our passions, or ádvocating for change, taking risks is the trigger for meaningful progress and positive transformation.
We know of course that part of taking risks will be setbacks, obstacles, and moments of doubt along the way. But it’s how we respond to these challenges that defines us. In the end it’s not the risks we didn’t take that we regret the most, but the ones we let slip through our fingers out of fear.
More than a century ago Theodore Roosevelt used these wellknown words:
“…there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”
Life is too short to merely exist. So, dare to dream, dare to risk stepping out of your comfort zone. For it’s only by pushing the boundaries of what’s possible that we can truly discover our full potential and live life to the full, while making a difference in the world.
Marlène Badenhorst
Master Facilitator
BrightStar Lifestyle
