Risk & Reward

There’s a great quote by Jim Rohn that says "If you are not willing to risk the unusual, you will have to settle for the ordinary." So what are you willing to risk?
How Do You Perceive Risk?
 
Risk has one definition, but different meanings for everyone. Risk is defined as exposure to the chance of injury or loss. 
 
In my seminars, I describe a simple exercise that helps people to understand risk…and their resistance to it.
 
If we put out a plank of wood on the floor and asked you to walk across – you could do it, right? What’s the risk? There’s really no risk because if you fall off the plank you’re on the floor – right there. So would you feel resistance to the request to walk across? Probably not.
 
Let’s Raise the Stakes!
 
Now, let’s put that same plank across a couple chairs, so it’s a couple feet off the floor. If you were asked to walk across it, what would you experience now? Some people have expressed feeling a little bit of resistance come up.
 
If we take it to another level and put that plank between two buildings about ten stories up, how would you feel about walking across now? There’s probably more resistance. And if you imagine yourself doing it, you might even have a physical reaction – like sweaty palms, butterflies in the stomach, etc.
 
The thing is, our minds cannot tell the difference between reality and a vividly imagined event, so it can react to just visualizing walking across without having to do it!
 
Where Does The Reward Come In?
 
So in my live events when I talk about walking the plank, there is no reward. It’s simply an action. But, if you imagined there was a reward, how would that affect your resistance? In my experience, the greater the reward, the more it offsets the resistance.
 
For example, if your life was at stake and would be saved by you walking across the plank ten stories above the ground, how much resistance would you have? It would probably be much less, if any remained at all.
 
Of course it’s a silly example and will probably never happen in your lifetime, but it’s an analogy to make a point.
 
What Will You Risk?
 
Sometimes the things you want require you to take risks – to expose yourself to that potential injury or loss. Or at least they appear to…
 
If you are an independent business owner and want to build your team, you’ll have to find other people to join you, right? It may seem like a risk to go talk to people about it – most often I hear that people are afraid of rejection.
 
However, if you look at the situation, you’ll see that there’s really no risk – it’s just perceived. The reality is that someone you want to approach about your business is currently not in your business – correct? So the only thing that talking to them about your business will do is to find out if they are interested or not. So they will either join you, and you get rewarded, or they don’t join you and nothing has changed.
 
I guess you could say there’s still risk because they might injure you – but unless they throw something at you or hit you (which is highly unlikely), then you’re not really harmed.
 
I say that because you are in control of your emotions. You get to choose how you react to what happens.
 
It’s Your Choice…
 
You can choose to be injured or hurt by someone else saying no to your business opportunity or you can look at the reward and realize that now you know. Now you know their interest level and you can move on to find someone else who is interested.
 
You no longer have to wonder “what if”.
 
And if you are feeling really hurt by people saying no, then you’ve probably placed expectations on them. It’s best to remove those expectations, and you can remove any upset that might come as a result of people failing to meet your (often unexpressed) expectations. 
 
Reward Yourself!
 
If you’re still feeling like talking to people puts you at risk, then figure out what reward will get you in motion. If your business is aligned with your purpose and your passion, then you just have to keep that in mind and it can help get & keep you in motion.
 
And if that’s still not working – think about this:
 
Would you rather risk now or regret later?

 

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