Risk Failure

"I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can't accept not trying." - Michael Jordan

With merely ten to twenty seconds left in overtime play, a spectacular header produces a goal and ties the game.

The result is renewed hope for a team on the brink of elimination. For the other the tie delays a chance to advance in a tournament. In both cases, each could have or could decide to quit and give up the fight.

Life can be cruel and life can be very rewarding. But we will never know the emotion or experience the joy if we never try. One could give up and walk away from it all, trying to avoid any failures. If we did, how could we ever then triumph in success when we accomplish the task at hand.

One goal, one tie, one loss, one setback does not define you. But not trying at all will define you and will isolate you from success.

Get out there and risk failure. Get out there and find success.

Stay inspired my friends!

Life Equals Risk

Reuters

"Only those who will risk going too far 

can possibly find out how far one can go." - T. S. Eliot

Life is full of risk.

We can sit idle in our chair, watching all of it pass by us.

Or we can stand up and start stepping towards something greater.

It is your choice.

Do not be defined by others.

Stay inspired my friends.

Risk Reward

"Fear stifles our thinking and actions. It creates indecisiveness that results in stagnation. I have known talented people who procrastinate indefinitely rather than risk failure. Lost opportunities cause erosion of confidence, and the downward spiral begins." -Charles Stanley

Are you a risk-taker?

Really think about that question and ask it of yourself again. What you will realize is that all of us are risk-takers. From our very beginning, we are born into an unknown future of which living it is risk in itself. As a teenager we want to drive a car for the feeling of independence. But driving has the risk of accidents. Even with independence is the risk of failing to support one self properly.

Going to college and selecting a major subjects us to possibly making a wrong choice. Marriage and there is a risk of divorce. Risk can be defined in almost every decision we make in life. So in most respects, all of us are risk-takers whether we believe we are or not. What defines the outcome of risk is how we respond to it.

Does risk rule you or you rule it?

So if risk is around us in most everything we do, how is it that some people take additional risks while others play it safe? There are at least two reasons that can answer this question.

One is that we the need for security keeps many of us from taking risks. As human beings, we have a need to want to stay with the familiar and predictable. We like things we can control and understand well. It was Helen Keller who said "Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing."

Secondly, fear and doubt keep us from taking risks. For a dreamer, these two things are their worst enemy. The Irish author, Gareth O’Callaghan has this advice, “Do not fear risk. All exploration, all growth is calculated. Without challenge people cannot reach their higher selves. Only if we are willing to walk over the edge can we become winners.”

How do we overcome the safety from and fear of risk?

Well, you can start by asking yourself these three questions:

- What would I do if I were being more courageous?
- How will inaction cost me one year from now if I do nothing?
- Where is my fear of failure causing me to over-estimate the size of risk, under-estimate myself and holding me back from greater achievement?

Whatever answers come into your mind, be aware that your answers are trying to point you to a greater future. Only you can create that future by taking bolder, more decisive and courageous actions. There will always be risk involved, just know that our human condition is created to overestimate the size of risk and to underestimate our ability to handle them.

As written by Lao Tsu in the 6th century BCE, “You are capable of more than you think.”

Stay inspired my friends and "Fortes fortuna adiuvat" or “Fortune favors the brave.”

Take Flight

"Growing up is never easy. You hold on to things that were. You wonder what's to come. But that night, I think we knew it was time to let go of what had been, and look ahead to what would be. Other days. New days. Days to come. The thing is, we didn't have to hate each other for getting older. We just had to forgive ourselves... for growing up.” ~The Wonder Years

I came upon a song called "Flightless Bird" by a group called Iron and Wine. A song of youthful life and growing up. The 'flightless bird' seems to mean he is unsure if he has found his own path. A bird that cannot fly may be seen by some as ironic. Birds are known to fly as they have wings to fly. But if a bird cannot fly, it has not fully realized it's own potential.

Okay, so that was all a little bit too deep for sure.

What is real about growing up is our struggle to prove ourselves on our own. We may experience hurt along the way as we learn to fly. We will make mistakes. We might may end up only reaching a point of just looking out over the edge, afraid to step out and take flight.

It is at this moment where we can make a decision to take that step and fall with no certainty of anyone to catch us. We can choose to forgive ourselves, take risk and connect with others; in other words take flight. Our flight will take place, when we forgive inside. We will then find ourselves among others in flight with a view so spectacular that you wonder why it took so long.

You may think that childhood is lost at this point. Like the young bird that has left the next, flying on its own, building its own life. But it is my belief when we take flight, this is truly when the child inside gets to experience life in all its wonder. The child inside is flightless until we learn to take our wings and use them. When we allow ourselves to forgive inside, when we take our life beyond ourselves and connect with others; only then will we truly take experience the possibility that life has to offer us.

Stay inspired my friends.

Risk Comes With Life

"If you are not willing to risk the unusual, you will have to settle for the ordinary." -Jim Rohn

Did you ever play the old board game called "RISK" when you were younger? It is a game in which the ultimate goal is to occupy every territory on the board and in so doing, eliminate all other players. It is a game in which there is only one winner. One player gets to dominate the entire "world" and everyone else loses.

About now you might be wondering where a motivational blog such as this could be taking the discussion. Is the story of risk one in which you risk everything and strive to dominate the world or universe? Maybe it is about deceit and cruel one upsmanship in order to get what you want?

Well do not worry about that. I am not here to promote that way of living life. We know that there are people in this world that live their lives that way. There is nothing that I am going to write that could change that fact. But what I can write is how you will have to risk certain things in order to survive and achieve your best life.

The risk I am referring to is having to live and succeed in this world. Life itself is full of risk. From the moment we are born, we are surrounded by all sorts of pitfalls and dangers. Our parents do their very best to protect us. And some parents are as much a risk to their children as life itself, certainly the saddest of situations I can think of.

As we grow older, the risks change and we become responsible for deciding which ones we will take on. You can take the safest of routes and stay on the flat land, moving south around the high mountain tops. Or you can choose to head straight up and over the peaks. It all comes down to which level of risk you are willing to endure.

To achieve so much more in life, you have to be willing to accept and trust that risk can yield more. In fact, you are capable of so much more than you think. We tend to give risk too much of a powerful hold upon our lives. We underestimate our capability to do great things.

You can take on more risk in your life. You can do more in your life. All it takes is believing in yourself and your ability to overcome any and all things.

So take a little more risk in your life, achieve a lot more. And of course, stay inspired my friends.

Embrace

“Love... It surrounds every being and extends slowly to embrace all that shall be.” ~Kahlil Gibran

My posts talk about stepping out and challenging your self in every day life. To take those risks that will help you seize a better life for you and those around you.

It is for those around you that I'm speaking of today. There are risks we take that are smart to take. There are other risks which are unnecessary to take. The video below addresses one of them.



Take risks but not the unnecessary ones! Embrace the people you love by being safe. Have a great weekend everyone.

Enter At Your Own Risk

You've seen them, disclaimers ranging from the simple to the most complicated legal jargon one could imagine. Many times these are meant to protect the 'issuer' from any responsibility. Seems a little odd that someone would put forth something and then not want to take any responsibility for it. Here you go Mr. Customer, this really isn't very safe but please buy it and if it causes harm, well its not our fault.

One then has to think about the other side of this coin we've created. A product designed to remove stains in white clothes. Of course, its bleach. Yet someone decides that if it works on clothes, maybe it will clean the ink stains on my arm. They use it in an improper manner getting a rash or burn on their skin. They blame or take legal action. Well Mr. Seller, you didn't tell me I couldn't use it that way and its not my fault.

In Ireland, there is an old castle in Blarney that I have visited many times. As you approach the doorway to go in the actual castle, there is one of those typical "ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK" signs. The kind that many of us simply ignore. But as you walk through this place, you really could quite easily hurt yourself. It is unlike in the U.S. where these signs are posted. And with that there is every conceivable safety device to keep you from harming yourself.

I find it amusing because the sign in Ireland is more real and forces you to truly accept responsibility. Yes, you could hurt yourself but we are allowing you to see this magnificent old building. Whereas in the U.S., you are warned and all the safety devices are there but it exists to protect them from the legal fight that will occur when you get a splinter from dragging your hand down a wooden banister.

There are many versions and variations that swing from one end of the spectrum to the other. What I marvel at is that we work so very hard at avoiding personal responsibility for things. I'm not suggesting that there are no valid reasons on either side, but I do believe again that personal responsibility needs higher consideration.

Personal responsibility is something each of us should have and consider in all that we do. If we are the producer of something, are we doing everything we can to ensure it is safe and appropriate. If we are the consumer of something, are we using it in a safe and appropriate manner. It also goes for decisions and actions we take in life. Are we taking responsibility for our own actions whether it be our attitude, our work or our family?

The only thing we had no choice in was being born. But living life itself is full of risk. All of us live that life and "ENTER AT OUR OWN RISK" until the day we don't. Assume responsibility for your own life. Choose to live life with a great attitude and willingness to make it better for others. The 'risks' are well worth it.