In the last week, I reached out to 12 people.
My question š what are the blockers to risk taking?
The most common turned out to beā¦
Letās break down each blocker.
1. Fear of failure
This topped the responses I received.
But when I dug deep, I was surprised... š
Most people donāt actually fear failure.
In reality, they fear the negative consequences of failure.
Loss
Shame
Embarrassment
Disappointment
These feelings prevent people from taking risks.
Letās face it, nobody likes to feel ashamed. Been there plenty of times so I know it.
But how to counter it? The same way you counter every fear.
Remember the fear you had before riding a bicycle first time?
Recall how you overcame that fear of falling down.
It was simple š You started riding the bicycle and the fear went away.
It died a slow and silent death.
Your bicycle experience provesā¦
Fear of failure can be dealt if we walk towards it with baby steps.
Your relationship with failure.
If you think, failure is your enemy ā youāre missing out all the fun.
Realize this š
Failure is NOT your enemy. Itās your teacher.
Failure is a school that teaches life lessons.
Letās hear Reinhold Messnerās opinion about fear of failure.
For me, Messner is the best alpinist in the world.
In above video, he saysā¦
āI think I became a good high altitude climber for the fact that I have failed many times.ā
He believes if you sit and wait, fear grows.
If you act, fear goes away.
According to Messner, fear is inversely proportional to action.
Suppose your fear of failure is a big, scary monster.
Itās following you around.
The more you run and avoid it, the bigger and scarier it gets.
But if you stop running and turn around to face the monsterā¦
You realize it's not as scary as you thought.
As you take action and move forward, the monster starts to shrink.
It becomes less threatening and eventually disappears altogether.
Thatās how we deal with fear of failure. And barking dogs too.
Defeat fear of failure š Take the smallest possible action in your control.
Grow from there.
2. Peer pressure
This is a big one in Pakistan.
Taking a tiny risk such as driving at night disturbs a lot of folks.
For example Ali Sadpara, Pakistani high-altitude mountaineer, died trying to do something he cared about.
Half of the country lost their mind. Some called his actions reckless.
āAllah ne jaan is liye thori di hai.ā
Remember ā Most people in our human society are risk averse.
Their advice is to take the safest route possible.
Respect their input but donāt listen to them.
Before you seek risk taking advice from someoneā¦
See if they ever walked out of their own comfort zone.
Understand this š
Experiences of our fathers, uncles, and Instagram influencers have nothing to do with ours.
You are a unique cosmic being.
Just like your DNA and finger prints, your experiences on earth are unique.
What works for others may not work for you.
And what didnāt work for them, itās not necessary it wonāt work for you.
When people limit you by telling their bad experiences, donāt let them.
They are projecting their own fears on you.
Duke magazine asked Reinhold Messner:
Our society hates risk. How did you approach risk during your career?Ā
We live in an era which is against risk-taking. Over the last 10,000 years, humans have tried to minimize risk in order to build civilization.
Mountaineers do the opposite: they go their own way, acting against their instinct for self-protection.
Little by little, with millions of small steps, they master the art of going somewhere where they could die, without dying!
You learn to overcome risk.
When I climbed the north face of the Droites on my own, I was sure I could handle it. Otherwise I would have died from fear.
When I climbed Everest without oxygen, I had already reached similar altitudes before ā it was only 800 meters more. We went there to try, step by step, but we were prepared to fail and to return.
3. Personal beliefs
1. The belief that failure is more likely than success is wrong.
Itās mathematically incorrect.
If you flip a coin, there are always 50 - 50 chances of both outcomes.
Thus, you canāt say there are more chances of failure until youāre doing your best.
2. The belief that job people are not risk takers is false.
Tim Cook is an employee of Apple for 25 years.
But is he a risk taker?
In 2014, he became the first CEO of a major company to come out as gay.
Talk about risking your corporate image to proudly be who you are.
We take risks knowing that they will sometimes result in failure, but without the possibility of failure there is no possibility of success.
ā Tim Cook
3. If you believe risks mean reckless behavior, change your definition.
Think of it as anything that is unknown.
Then try to improve your ability to stay in this unknown zone.
You can train yourself for this.
Do small things that make you a little uncomfortable.
Take a new route to work tomorrow.
Try a different type of vegetable this weekend.
Brush your teeth with the non-dominant hand for days.
Close your eyes and walk backwards until you hit the wall.
Practice these actions to build up your ability to handle bigger unknowns.
It will help you get used to being in uncertain situations.
In a matter of days, you will reframe your thinking.
You will view risks as an opportunity for fun and being crazy.
But under the surface, you will be laying solid foundations.
When you fail, remind yourself š
Taking chances leads to new experiences, skills, and connections.
4. Past experiences
Negative experiences or facing rejection can make you hesitant to taking risks.
Donāt lose faith. We all fail.
I fail to accomplish at least 2 - 3 things every day. š Sometimes more.
Even the gurus and geniuses fail big time.
But do they lose faith?
Think how film actors do audition after audition.
They face the most rejections on earth...
Because of the nature of movie business.
Actors donāt take rejection seriously.
They take it like shots in the dark.
After 100 such shots, they trust they will land somewhere good.
The only way to forget past experience is to learn from it and build new experiences.
Break the pattern. Challenge your own rigid beliefs.
Show yourself that YOU donāt make the same mistakes again.
You are an adaptive being. You can learn to handle your shit.
Trust yourself andā¦
Create that website.
Write one page.
Sing your song.
Remember Messnerās words š Action kills fear.
Donāt feel ashamed to put his words on your mirror.
Or wallpaper if thatās what it takes to move the needle.
I have done it for years. Will never stop.
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