Risk Taking Gives You The Potential to Gain Something of Value
Risk is the potential of losing something of value, weighed against the potential to gain something of value.
Risk taking is defined as -Weighing up the potential benefits and harms of exercising one choice of action over another, identifying the potential risks involved, and developing plans and actions accordingly.
To achieve the happiness and contentedness that everyone is looking for, it is very important to understand this concept of ‘Risk taking’. Risks are not only for those who are into adventure sports or financial speculations. Every time we come across a place of decision- making, we are standing at some potential risks. However, in most everyday situations, what is at stake is not often valued and hence easily overlooked.
Risk taking moments are the opportunities for us to evaluate ourselves and make decisions that are right for us and not chose which is a general belief.
Benefits to risk taking:
• It increases your confidence about what can be done
• It can increase your sense of control about your life
• Help reduce feelings of victimization and helplessness
• Decreases your anxieties and fears
• It provides practice for, and participation in, decision-making
• It can increase your motivation level
• It develops character and courage
• Extends creativity
• Boosts confidence
• Helps establish a sense of both limitations and possibilities.
Process: Risk taking will come in small steps for some and larger steps for others. The most important thing about risk taking is that you must know and want the outcome from the risk. Risk taking is a private issue and other’s opinions, judgments, and criticisms should not come into play. Risk taking is your decision.
Some tips on risk taking:
• Ignore your critics.
• Know and understand yourself and what you want from the risk.
• Be prepared to take the risk and expect the unexpected.
• Use your goal-setting skills to help you along.
• Don’t give up or back down at the first sign of trouble or defeat.
• Realize that not all risks pay off immediately.
• Understand that risk taking is an investment in your future.
• Know that risk taking will help you build healthy self-esteem.
There is an old story about Thomas Edison. He was at a meeting when someone from the crowd yelled, “Mr. Edison, how does it feel to have failed over four hundred times at making the light bulb work?” Mr. Edison stopped, turned, and answered, “My dear sir, I have never failed at my attempts to make the light bulb work. I have successfully identified four hundred ways that it will not work.” Risk taking involves this type of fearless, optimistic thinking.