“Often the difference between a successful person and a failure is not one has better abilities or ideas, but the courage that one has to bet on one’s ideas, to take a calculated risk – and to act.”
~ Andre Malraux (French Historian, Novelist and Statesman, 1901-1976)
I talk a lot about risk. When I do, I’m not referring to the gambling kind. That kind can needlessly endanger your life, ruin relationships and set you up for failure. To me, that isn’t risk – its stupidity. That kind rarely counts the cost.
What I mean when I talk risk is the calculated kind – the controlled experiment. The confidence to do what you know you can do, regardless of who else believes. Daring to reveal something to us that we might not know we need, want or like yet. That kind of risk is harder, because the risk is internal.
If it was easy, everyone would do it. That’s why everyone doesn’t.
Many dreams, plans and talents are aborted because there is no courage to take action. Face it, if you can’t find the courage to believe in yourself why should we? It all starts with you. It starts with a vision, a decision, a step – all of which are controlled, calculated and purposeful.
You must decide that the personal internal risk is worth it. The risk of trying and failing has far less consequences than allowing fear to kill your contribution before you ever offer it.
Make a decision. Believe in yourself. Take a calculated risk. There is no other path to real success.
Man, I hate risking failure, that's the hardest part of any creative endeavor for me.