We’ve all heard the phrase “high risk, high reward.”
Lots of people play the stock market, and lose everything they have. Some of us don’t take any risks at all, and nothing bad ever happens. Right?
Some of us choose to manage the risk, and move the needle forward ever so slightly, incrementally, towards progress with stability as co-witness.
So how do you decide how much risk to take? Here are some examples…
- Do you skip breakfast for a faster commute to work? Not risky. (pack a snack bar)
- Do you trust a vendor to provide all the services they said they would back in the sales call? Risky. (they won’t)
- Do you add an element of the unknown during an evacuation drill? Calculated risk. (and what will a real emergency be like?)
- Do you shake up your team to increase overall performance? Could be risky… (what’s best for the team and those they serve?)
- Do you ride your motorcycle without a helmet? Extremely risky. (organ donors, is what they call them…)
- Do you forget your 20-year wedding anniversary? Certain doom. (oh boy…)
You get the idea.
How you handle risk determines how fast you can travel in any direction – in life, on the road, in relationships, performing at work, or gaining happiness.
Risk is all around. YOLO.
At some point, you have to deal with it.
Some of us are better than others at handling, mitigating, and shouldering the burden of risk, and that’s ok. Some hide under their desk when the going gets tough. The world is full of all kinds of people, and that’s ok. That’s a fact. Add it to your matrix from the start!
The best way to handle risk is one step at a time. Build a process, determine the risk factors, evaluate possible outcomes, and go from there.
Once you’ve identified your risk, implement plans to deal with what comes next… reality.
Reality adds a whole new layer to whatever you’re doing.
PS – I was going to end the post with a “Good luck!” but luck and risk aren’t partners… ;-)