The Anatomy Of Risks

THE ANATOMY OF RISKS
Comfort Zones keep us safe from RISK. Taking a risk is when we do something new and we don’t know how it’s going to turn out. Period. If you are human, that stirs up anxiety and fear of the unknown. The “What If” Thinking often begins: “What if this turns out badly?”, “What if I end up worse off tha
I am now?”, and the big one, “What if I fail?” which is really “What if I’m not good enough.”
If you get to this point in considering taking a risk, and then stop, you get to run back into your comfort zone. Good news, safety, whew!
The bad news is that after the initial relief, you get to feel the nagging discontent begin yet again. And that discomfort grows, and grows, as safety blurs into suffering. When the suffering gets big enough, you may consider risk again. I have seen people bounce between risk consideration and safety over and over again. It’s exhausting, and every time they watch themselves run back to the safety zone, their self esteem and confidence gets smaller and smaller.
Nobody can make you take risks. It’s your life and your choice. But what does it look like for those who do decide it’s time to step out and reach for more?
The first risk is probably the hardest. After all, they have been practicing the safety game for a long time; they’re good at saying no and moving away when they start to feel uncomfortable. Saying yes to fear is a habit.
There are basically two steps to taking a risk. The first part takes place in your head. The second part is the physical act of doing. Guess what? The second step is rarely the hard part.
Step one comes after your decision to act. This is where the “what if” thinking assaults you, the use of your wonderful imagination to create a hundred of the worst possible outcomes. This is also where you try and convince yourself that what you have now is just fine and why would you want to risk possibly having less?
The fear of failure usually lurks below the surface, covering up the real fear that taking this risk will show that ‘you are just not good enough’. I recently read a book that stated that as the primary human fear in life. Failure can makes us think that that’s true. But if you talk to any really successful people, you discover that they have failed many times. Usually they are OK with that, and they see their “failures” as some of their best learning experiences. Learning experiences which had to happen for them to be the success they are today. You are good enough, we all are. Will you fail if you take this risk? You probably won’t, but this wouldn’t be a risk if failure wasn’t a possibility. What about just being proud of the courage you will show in taking the risk? It feels exciting too, doesn’t it?
Ok, here’s a good technique for dealing with the head stuff: Do the action part as soon as you can and don’t give yourself a long time to think about it. It takes a little courage, but you get to skip a lot of the head torture, and it feels great afterwards.
The trick to part 2 is to go in willing to put up with some temporary discomfort. Being afraid and doing something anyway feels uncomfortable, but it won’t kill you, and it usually passes quickly once you are involved in the task you’ve defined as your risk. Once you’ve done the task, and it turns out fine, you then get to experience one of the best feelings in the world.
Pushing past fear is one of the best highs I know, and here’s the bonus: your self confidence will go up each time, and the next risk won’t be as difficult. Make a habit of taking risks, and eventually you will see it as not big deal.
Saying no to fear is now your new habit, and there’s no limit to what you can have in your life.