Curious about Risk: How Likely Is It for You to Take One? And, How Has Taking a Risk Enhanced Your Life, Career and/or Business?

“What you risk reveals what you value.” - Jeanette Winterson, British novelist

“Our lives improve only when we take chances - and the first and most difficult risk we can take is to be honest with ourselves.” - Walter Anderson, German writer

WOW! When I started to hunt down the quotations for this week’s theme of “risk,” I was overwhelmed by the number. Not just because so many experts had thoughts and beliefs – mainly positive – in this area, but also because of the fact that so many others are hesitant to take risks.

We are presently in an economic situation which can be scary in itself. However, what I know as an individual is that if we are willing to take risks – and big ones, too – we will not only overcome the doom and gloom around us, but we will also flourish.

Yes, there will be challenges and obstacles. I am convinced that if we risk and persist – persist and risk – we will realize that we are in one of the best times for opportunity. In addition, when your and my opportunities appear, take that risk.

Here are many of the excellent and thought provoking quotations:

• “When you play it too safe, you're taking the biggest risk of your life. Time is the only wealth we're given.” - Barbara Sher, American businesswoman
• “You can't get there by bus, only by hard work and risk and by not quite knowing what you're doing. What you'll discover will be wonderful. What you'll discover will be yourself.” - Alan Alda, American actor
• “If you are not willing to risk the unusual, you will have to settle for the ordinary.” - Jim Rohn, American businessman
• “If you risk nothing, then you risk everything.” - Geena Davis, American actress
• “Once we believe in ourselves, we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight, or any experience that reveals the human spirit.” - e. e. cummings, American poet
• “You don't concentrate on risks. You concentrate on results. No risk is too great to prevent the necessary job from getting done.” - Chuck Yeager, American aviator

And some more:

• “You can measure opportunity with the same yardstick that measures the risk involved. They go together.” - Earl Nightingale, American entertainer
• “Decision is a risk rooted in the courage of being free.” - Paul Tillich, German theologian
• “An entrepreneur assumes the risk and is dedicated and committed to the success of whatever he or she undertakes.” - Victor Kiam, American businessman
• “Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” - T. S. Eliot, American poet
• “Everyone has a 'risk muscle.' You keep it in shape by trying new things. If you don't, it atrophies. Make a point of using it at least once a day.” - Roger von Oech, American writer
• “If you're not a risk taker, you should get the hell out of business.” - Ray Kroc, American businessman

First, write down your biggest and most important goal. What risks have you already taken to start working on your goal? What bigger risks can you now take? I have found that keeping a hand written journal gives me the courage to move ahead.

In the words of American First Lady Rosalynn Carter, “If you don't accept failure as a possibility, you don't set high goals, you don't branch out, you don't try - you don't take the risk.”