Sometimes the greatest risk is the risk not taken. Just ask a successful person or entrepreneur.

"Take the risk out of success…and you’ll live an unfulfilling life!
“The safety net we want doesn’t exist—it’s an illusion. Coming to see
that enabled me to go for it.”  Mary Jane Ryan, retired executive
editor of Conari Press 

Risk is an inherent part of everyday life. Staying in what we think is a safe spot may make it
seem as if risk has been eliminated, but it hasn’t been. Successful
people have learned to view risk as a necessary and important part of
their careers and work. 

Successful people
enjoy the satisfaction of never having to say, “If only I had….” All
have risked; sometimes they’ve won, sometimes they’ve failed, sometimes
they’re regretted a decision. But they have discovered a couple of
essential principles along the way: that we risk by default every day,
and that it is often a greater risk to do nothing at all.   

Through
the risks they’ve taken, successful people have become stronger and
more prepared to get the results they really wanted. Significantly,
they realized that every risk has both an upside and a downside.
Focusing on the downside leads straight to fear, while concentrating on
the upside creates a mindset that tolerates risk and the tough
decisions that accompany it. 

What makes people risk takers? For one thing, they have an entrepreneurial attitude
. They know that risk is part of responsibility, part of the volatile
business environment, and big part of opportunity. By seeking a
positive light, they avoid a “let’s jump off the cliff and see where
we’ll land” attitude. They take the “leap of faith”
with a sense of direction, armed with a network of supporters and
resources and fortified with skills from their past experiences.  

Risk
takers combine information and intuition in a way that helps them
succeed in all kinds of situations—especially during transition periods
in their lives and careers. 

When successful people think about taking risks, any risk, they ask themselves questions such as:

• What would happen if I didn’t take this risk?
• What is the alternative?
• Is this the right time to take this risk?
• To what extent is my decision based on my own gut feeling and to what extent on others’ opinions?
• Will I still like my decision in five years?
• How have others handled situations like this?

Such questions place risk in a decision-making
context rather than letting it remain stuck in whatever doubts or
anxieties accompany it. Answering them, formally or informally, lets us
begin to see a risk more clearly. We then can decide what information
we need to make the best decision we can at a given point in time.  

Successful
people know that there are no “sure things,” but they are willing to
take a calculated risk: to go through the soul searching and fact
finding, to make decisions based on available knowledge, and to
consider the long-term consequences of those decisions. Although this
kind of calculated risk taking can be frustrating—because there are
usually no clear, clean, obvious answers—they know that the alternative
is much worse. They don’t leave risk to chance. At the same time, they
realize that it’s impossible to know everything in advance about a
decision and how it will turn out. 

Have fun,

Pam

Click here to see all my blogs

Pam Gilberd, www.pamgilberd.net, wirtes and speaks on career, life, and success issues.

Her books include: The Eleven Commandments of Wildly Successful Women., The Twelfth Commandment of Wildly Successful Women, and Leadership Secrets of Elizabeth I.