|
I've been thinking a lot about risk lately. It always starts
with desire, just the same as good acting, that is, playing
your character's goal and asking, "what is s/he willing
to
do to get it?"
Growth
never comes without a process of overcoming
challenges, and the steps, in my experience, go something
like this:
1.
I'm hungry for something bigger in my life and I'm ready
to have it.
2.
Some old habit or mode of thinking wants to keep me from
taking the necessary steps to realize my goal.
3.
I get clear on the specific fears I have that would hold
me back.
4.
I choose one way or another: either that the risk is too
great and the possibility of failure does not outweigh the
desire I have to succeed, or I take steps forward toward my
goal.
5.
I either succeed or not, and win or lose, I always learn
something invaluable and grow my being into something
larger.
Here's
an example from my own life that I'm currently in the
midst of. I'm buying a house. It's at once thrilling,
terrifying, comforting, expanding, and a bunch of other
superlatives. It feels great.
At
the same time, the costs are quite a bit higher than I'm
used to paying, and old habitual thinking about money tells
me, "you can't afford it." A quick check of the
numbers
tells me I can afford it, but it may be tight for a few
months.
When
I look at the fear that I have about this move, I
realize it's more about stepping into a larger life than it
is about the money. It's just that I've never been
responsible for paying for and maintaining a house while
working for myself. I'm out of my comfort zone, simple as
that.
Yet
when I imagine my family living in that house, I get a
warm feeling of deep satisfaction. Cheesy at it sounds, it
doesn't just feel like a house--it feels like home. I keep
picturing us dancing with young Daphne in our living room,
gardening in our backyard, remodeling our kitchen. Even
blowing insulation into the attic sounds like fun. The value
of owning our own home again far outweighs the possibility
of failure, even though the risk seems great.
So
I move ahead in this venture, with both nervousness and
confidence; maybe that's the definition of faith. Whatever
happens, I know that two things will come as a result of
this: one is that I will learn more about who I am and what
I'm capable of. A child learns to walk and it emboldens her
to learn to climb and then to run. Just like that child, I
know that success will push me to take greater risks in the
future.
The
other thing that will happen, perhaps the greatest gift
in all of this, is that I will expand my world. As I move
through the process, I realize that the size of my world is
only limited by my imagination and the courage I have to
take on new ventures.
So
what have I ally got to lose in all this should I fail? A
few bucks and a few points on my credit score. But what I
have to gain is immeasurable.
What
new ventures are calling you? What do you have to lose?
Most importantly, what do you have to gain?
How
do you want to expand your world?
Download
the attached worksheet to play around with it!
It's a
PDF file, so you may need to go
to Adobe
to download the reader
for fr*ee.
Until
next month, I wish you an expansive world,
RJ |
It's
about who you be:
A chance to e-mail yourself 20 years from now.
