If you took a poll of the people you deal with regularly about if you should take more or less risks in your presentation or actions, what do you think they would say? Can you imagine anyone saying that they thought you should take fewer risks? Other than people that would want you to stand back in fear, everyone would want you to take more risks, because they would want to see what kind of exciting items you could present. We are all curious about what is out there, and we are curious as to the potential of people we deal with.
Should I Take More Or Less Risk?
If you think about the answer you would get to that question anytime you asked it to others, you would realize that it would be absurd to not take the risks you have wanted to take. The risks are not to be taken lightly; instead, they are to be boldly powered through. When you take a risk in public speaking, make sure to get tough constructive feedback, like that which would be provided in a Toastmasters session. Risk-taking generally consists of pushing against social boundaries that you had previously set for yourself, or taking risks against nature, like climbing a rock formation or tree in a local park. You might as well look at avoiding risks as giving up on your goals.
Various Perspectives That Promote Risk-Taking
Competitive: For those with a competitive edge to your personality, if you don’t take risks that you feel are within your reach, your competition will do so, and you will then be playing a catch-up game that is not appealing to take part in.
“Clump of cells”: If you are a supporter of the “clump of cells” view of people, there is even less, if any, reason to avoid risks, as it is hard to be worried about comments coming from other sets of cells.
Long-distance: If an alien life form was looking at you from 100 miles above, what would he think about you if you were too worried to make some tiny risk? He might think that you were confused, and that you would be easy to defeat or control.
Logical: Yet another way to look at it involves arguing either side of the issue. Usually, you can instantly think of a good result of taking a risk, but it can take much longer to think of a valid problem that would come up due to taking it.
Reflective: By reviewing risk examples from your past, it is probably the case that you wish you took the risks you didn’t take. Also, for the risks you did take, you probably wish you took them sooner. You will look back on this current time in the same way.
Long-term: Someone who is not taking risks looks like a person that can’t handle their small local environment, since much time passes and it seems as though they remain indecisive about even minor items.
When you risk more, you either succeed amazingly or error largely, and in the case of large errors, you can either laugh them off, or present them to others as an example of what they should avoid doing. This takes care of social concerns that might arise, and as for other concerns, other than possible health issues, they can be made up for by the next large risk that is taken. If entrepreneurs didn’t have this point internalized, they wouldn’t take the next risk in their mind, because they would be more worried that they would lose the items they had gained so far. You might assume that they have a mindset that only takes “calculated risks”, but they are only able to take those due to the less calculated risks they performed and learned from in the past.
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I have to add one more perspective to your list: curiosity. You won’t get the answers if you don’t go out and ask! This week I took a fairly large risk (personal life-wise) and while I definitely didn’t get the expected result (which is good, because I was looking out for a negative result) I did learn something interesting and I feel a lot better about myself and my future.
Corey: I like that you added an item to that set. It was somewhat of a fixed set until you did so, and now it has more of an expandable feel. Curiosity does tend to get fulfilled when something out of the ordinary is tried. Keeping an eye out for a negative result is a good attitude to have when waiting for a response. You sound like you are feeling glad about the decision you made. Your example here adds to the point that the choice of whether to perform a large risk is an easy one to make if success/development is on your mind.
Hey Armen!
The problem is, the fear of loss is great than the desire for gain. That’s the main reason people don’t take risks.
And I must confess, I’m not a risk-taker either.
The comfort-zone isn’t called such for nothing
Melanie: Hello to you. That fear of loss that you have brought up can certainly be larger than the desire for gain, in a fair amount of instances, until one starts to build up a fear of loss of opportunity that would come with not taking the specific risk in question. Thinking of the numerous opportunities that could be lost by not taking a risk makes the generic risk on the other end of the decision-making process seem negligible. An apt example of this is the risk you took there, in pointing out that your personality does not generally opt for the risky choice. It might seem like a small risk to take, but it is noticeably refreshing to see on my end, and also serves to keep your health in a better condition; I read somewhere that when a person has something that they want to mention, if they back away from saying it out loud, their blood pressure goes up slightly. On the point about the comfort-zone, I would say that it is a prime location to seek to avoid. Thanks for taking a risk.
Hey Armen.
I think this is an important topic for people to make peace with.
Nothing of importance was ever accomplished without taking some kind of risk. But when does a risk become needless?
I think that the important thing is to identify your goal, and to acknowledge the risks, and find some way to move toward your goal regardless of the risks.
Trey: Hi there. You have brought up a relevant point here. I would add to the article that it was speaking about risks that a person feels they should be taking, but that are holding back from performing. Although I would side on the side of taking risks in some categories that are not really as relevant, there are some risks that are not worth taking at all, even if they come out with positive results, because they aren’t in line with your long-term goals. It is hard for something to be risky if its results can’t really affect the path to your goals. They might as well be labeled “fun attempts”. I am glad that you brought that up.
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