Risks Worth Taking

THE GREATER THE RISK, THE GREATER THE REWARD

Granted, taking risks can be a scary, stressful business. However, nothing beats the rush of succeeding. Some of the most successful entrepreneurs have been incredible risk takers, consider Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Richard Branson, just to name a few.

They all were prepared to take massive risks and they made mistakes along the way, but ultimately, they succeeded. Steve Jobs started his little company in his garage.

Some people had to fail before they succeeded. In fact, it is said that you have to fail ten times before you succeed as an entrepreneur. Some of the greater known names throughout history of those who took risks and failed before they succeeded were Thomas Edison, and Albert Einstein. Edison, famously credited with the first light bulb patent in 1879, tested more than 3000 different bulbs before he came up with the best solution.

This could be seen as “failing” 3000 times. Einstein, widely considered as a genius, was thought to be slow as a child. He did not perform well in school and didn’t speak until he was nine years old. He struggled through university and ended up selling insurance. His father died believing Albert was a “failure.” But he went on to become one of the greatest physicists of all time. Risk taking is a scary business, and it is the fear of failure that holds us back.

Can you think of a way to re-frame the concept of failure?

Failure is part of life, something that everybody must face. If you can see it as something normal and inevitable, and take away the shame and judgment from it, then nothing can really stop you.

As long as you don’t give up. Of course, fear of losing all your assets can be terrifying, when you have a family to feed, but hey, look at Donald Trump. Look where he got. Love him or hate him, you have to admire his unrelenting tenacity and commitment to his own success.