With Risk Comes Reward

When it comes to our personal and professional growth, the common denominator that often trips us up involves risk. As I consider my performance over the past years and my future ambitions, I find myself pondering these two questions:

1. Was I willing to risk failure in order to achieve my personal and professional goals?
2. Do I care enough about my dreams/ambitions/hopes/desires to get out of my comfort zone and take some risks?

The answers to these questions are often very revealing—for better or worse. But have faith. Life is all about taking previous experiences and allowing them to guide you in the future. If you feel positive about the questions above, great, continue moving forward by embracing risks around you in pursuit of growth. If you feel negative about the questions above, then dig deeper to find the courage to stretch yourself outside of your comfort zone.

What is it about our comfort zone that makes it so difficult to get out of? Familiarity, repetition and the ability to develop expectations about predictable future outcomes are often the predominant causes of our unwillingness to expand our horizons. And all of these reasons are justifiable.

But, in our pursuit of growth, we must flip this rationale on its head to see all that we are missing. In a world of rapid technological, social and demographic changes, remaining in our comfort zone will only lead to missed opportunities. Consider the seized opportunities below that took a leap of faith to reap great rewards. 

1. We now have common cures for many types of cancer thanks to the biotechnology industry testing options outside of the norm.
2. An idea spurred by a few college kids to connect friends now connects over 1 billion people globally every single day. Thanks Facebook.
3. In an effort to give the majority of their net worth to philanthropy, approximately 140 wealthy individuals have collectively committed to donating over $300 billion dollars to solve philanthropic goals.

Have confidence in the fact that with risk there is reward. I challenge you to take risks and experience the excitement that is associated with the unknown, seize the day!

About the Author

Nick is a supervisor in construction services focused on financial statement preparation, customer relationship maintenance and process improvement and evaluation. Fueled by his passion to #beEvenBetter, he encourages team members to seize every opportunity to share a positive attitude and an ownership mentality with their team and their clients.