The danger of playing it safe: Take the risk

BY DANIEL COLE

Life itself is risky. To live so cautiously, avoiding events, decisions or choices of unpredicted outcomes is akin to not living at all. T.S. Eliot was right, “Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” The most important developments in science, history, technology, and the arts came from taking risks.

Any decisions you will take with the prospect of high reward are often accompanied by a certain measure of risk: Quitting a job to start a business, choosing a life partner, filing for divorce; these are complex life decisions with dire consequences if taken wrongly, so consequently, we often would rather live in the confines of our comfort, embrace the familiar than venture into anything new. The great Jim Rohn has rightly said, “If you are not willing to risk the unusual, you will have to settle for the ordinary.”

A risk is a risk because the outcomes are unpredictable. But how then do we navigate the complexities of decision-making? In his book, “Take the Risk.” Dr Ben Carson wrote, “Whenever I face a hard decision or a risky situation in life (personally or professionally), all my thinking, all my analysis, all my planning can be boiled down to four simple questions“

1. What is the best thing that can happen if I do this?
2. What is the worst thing that can happen if I do this?
3. What is the best thing that can happen if I don’t do it?
4. What is the worst thing that can happen if I don’t do it?

While we often worry about taking risk of greater consequences, the sad reality is, living itself is risky. Did you know that

• You are 400% more likely to die from falling than from something falling on you?
• Children are 600% more likely to be killed by a school bus hitting them than they are to be killed while travelling on a school bus?
• Common painkillers may raise risk of heart failure?
• The chance of being killed driving to the airport is far greater than the odds you will die in a lifetime of flying?

Consider this, no matter what safety steps we take or what security precautions we adopt, our risk of death is not approximately, but exactly 100%. While this does not suggest we live our life carelessly, but to remind us, that in the end, we only regret the chances we didn’t take, relationships we are afraid to have, and the decisions we waited too long to make.

As a result of our common misperceptions, we overrate and worry more than we should about the danger of uncommon and exotic risks while dismissing many everyday dangers we’re more apt to encounter and can actually do something about. The degree to which we fear an actual risk is also influenced by media exposure.

It is time to quit living as if the purpose of life is to arrive safely at death. Set God-sized goals. Pursue your God-given passion. Go after a dream that is destined to fail without divine intervention. Stop pointing out problems. Become part of the solution. Stop repeating the past, start creating the future.

Face your fears, and take the risk. Fight for your dreams. Grab opportunity by the mane and don’t let go. Live like today is the first day and last day of your life. Set a new path, blaze new trails. Dare to fail. Dare to be different. Quit holding out, quit holding back, quit running away. Take the risk!

You can run away from what you are afraid of, but you will keep running the rest of your life. It’s time to face your fears, take a flying leap of faith. Remember, you have to go big or go home. Take the risk!