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My daughter Juliana attended a progressive elementary school where
"personal character development" was central to the
curriculum. Each year, different character traits were
highlighted (i.e., "well-balanced","thinkers",
"knowledgeable", etc.) with the hope that by the time
the child graduated in fifth grade, he/she would have integrated
all thirteen key character traits into his/her everyday life.
I
loved my discussions with Juliana about these topics, but my
favorite conversations revolved around the concept of
"risk". We spent several hours discussing what it
means to be a risk-taker, and debated the differences between
doing something "risky" vs. being a smart risk-taker.
The
relative merits of risk, as it pertains to our careers or
entrepreneurial ventures, is something that we should all spend
time examining. Too often, our progress is stymied because we
are afraid of doing something wrong and don't want to risk
making a mistake. As the saying goes, "Better the
Devil you know, than the Devil you don't."
When
we venture out of our comfort zones, in a smart and calculated
way, real change and progress can and does occur. As we learn to
take risks, we begin to understand that not doing anything is
often far more costly than doing something.
I
was recently reminded about the importance of venturing outside
our comfort zones, while reading a wonderful article about this
subject written by Bob Middleton of www.actionplan.com. I loved
his advice so much that I wanted to share an exercise Bob had in
the article. (In fact, I found the questions so compelling that
I printed them out and posted them on my computer). I hope
you'll enjoy this as much as I did. Here is the excerpt:
"Ultimately
we'll only take a risk when we realize that the cost of not
acting is greater than the cost of acting. Unfortunately we
often have these realizations a little too late. What are those
things you're putting off? Take a second to write a few of them
down.
Now
you have a short list of things you're not learning but could
probably benefit from learning and another list of things you're
not doing but would likely profit from if you got around to
doing them. What I recommend is that you subject each item on
your list to the following questions:
Is
this something that would truly benefit me if I learned it or
put it into action?
What
are some of the possible benefits I might gain if I learned or
did this thing?
What
could I potentially lose if I didn't learn this thing or do this
thing?
What's
the worst that could happen if I took a risk and learned this
thing or did this?
When
you ask these four questions of every item on your list, you'll
have reframed your risk. What used to look risky might not look
so risky anymore. In fact, it might actually start looking like
a great idea to learn or do this thing."
("By
Robert Middleton of Action Plan Marketing. Please visit Robert's
web site at www.actionplan.com
for additional marketing articles and resources on marketing
for professional service businesses." )
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