How to Take Calculated Risk
After getting injured in a few amateur motorcycle and race car circuits, actor Steve McQueen was approached by his assistant who pleaded with him to reconsider his decision to do his own driving in the movie La Mans based on the 24hr sport car endurance race. “But you’ve gotten hurt doing this kind of thing before”, his assistant reasoned. McQueen’s reply was “Yeah, but I never died.” Sometimes just the thought of taking a risk can send an overwhelming sensation of fear through our bodies. But anyone who has succeeded in anything, anywhere, understands that risks are absolutely necessary for progress to occur."Why not go out on a limb? That's where the fruit is”
-Will Rogers
The reason most of us resist taking risk has nothing to do with the risk at all. It is what the outcome of the risk that makes us weary. For example, you may have heard of Social Anxiety Disorder or sometimes called Social Phobia. People who are living with social anxiety are afraid to interact or talk with other people. Some who have the disorder may be too afraid to call a business and talk to an unknown person or even say good morning to a stranger. They live a life that cripples them with fear and often leaves them isolated from society. However, it’s not the interaction with other humans that they are afraid of. It’s the thought of a negative outcome that disables their ability to socialize. They are afraid of being judged, being stared at, or being perceived as weak. So instead of thinking of the good that may come from meeting a new person, they think about what could go wrong and then assume the worse will happen.
This is the way most people approach life and they don’t even know it. Think about the last time you wanted to do something that could benefit you but came with a lot of risk. Did you take the risk? If you didn’t take the risk, why not? Chances are you or someone else talked you out of it by using examples of what could go wrong. Convincing yourself that you will come out the loser in any risky situation will lower your chances of success in that situation. This is why you absolutely need to learn how to take calculated risk.
Calculated Risk
I never play the Lotto for one major reason; I have no control whether I win or lose. People often associate the word risk with the word lose. If you want to be successful you’ll need to eliminate this word association. The only risks worth taking are calculated risk. There are two reasons why this is true.
1. Taking calculated risk increase your chance for success because your actions and attempts will be based on fact.
2. Since there was reason and logic behind your risk, if you fail you can go back and see where there was a mistake and that will better prepare you to continue making progress.
If I played the Lotto this weekend and I didn’t win I have no way to increase my chances of winning next weekend. Well that’s not exactly true. I could buy more tickets and increase my chances from 1 in 14 million to 5 in 14 million. But either way I still don’t like my chances. Here are some ways to review your risk in order to get the outcome you want.
1. The reward must be as much or greater than what you stand to lose.
2. Focus on facts not feelings.
3. Gather as much information as you can from people, online, and from books.
4. Prepare escape routes in case what can go wrong does go wrong.
5. Have a bounce back plan so that valuable time is not wasted trying to regain what was lost.
6. Review and increase your chances to succeed.
7. Find others who have taken similar risk and examine how they succeeded or failed.
Once you become accustom to taking calculated risk these things will come naturally and quickly. The more risk you take the more confident you will be in your ability to decipher which risk you should take.
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