Good To GreatÖrnek

Risk the Chance of a Failure

Everyone is a risk taker. Whether we realize it or not we are all risk takers. A Pastor in Houston, once talking about faith, said, “We all take risks every day. When we have a fever we go to a doctor whose full name we cannot remember, he tells us that we have a disease we cannot pronounce, he then gives us a prescription we  cannot even read; we take that to a pharmacist we have never met, he takes out and gives us a medicine, whose combination we cannot understand, but we go home, take it with a glass of water and go to bed peacefully, completely confident that we are going to be cured soon.”

Aren’t we all risk takers? Whatever we buy from the market, whether milk, water, cola, vegetables, oil, rice, everything is produced or manufactured by an unknown person, in an unknown location and possibly with unknown ingredients. Yet we purchase and use them without even thinking twice. The point is, we show tremendous trust in these unknown people concerning our daily needs. We are risk takers, indeed.

But then we are also people with fear. We are scared to take a vacation from a hectic job for the fear of losing our job. Scared to leave a job and start a dream business, scared to move up in a relationship and get married, sacred to invest in a new venture, scared to face an irritating boss and scared of anything uncertain. That is why, for many of us, life is a drag. It is futile, it’s frustrating. Dull.

Risk the Chance of Failure

You might argue that buying a product at a supermarket is less risky than leaving a job and starting a business. I don’t agree with that for one simple reason, a risk is a risk, small or big. When you pick a product from a shop, you believe it will work for you, irrespective of the final result. When you take a step towards an uncertain future you are doing the same, believing that it will work.

I think the challenge is, some of us need to risk changing jobs, or leaving a job and starting a business, pursuing your heart, learning to play the guitar, getting married, or having children, buying a dream house or trying out on “American or Indian Idol”. Don’t allow fear to swallow you up. Try smiling at your worst enemy at office, or tell your boss that he is wrong (only if he is really wrong, otherwise, it would be a suicide and I am not responsible), or go back to college and finish graduation or propose to the girl you have always admired but never dared to say a hi, or try depending on God rather than on your own talent. Do something different from what you have been doing so far. I bet your life will take a whole new direction. Opportunities present themselves to those who keep using them.

Trying something new means we are also risking a chance of failure. Not everyone will be successful in their ventures. Some of us will fail, possibly for a thousand reasons. Sometimes risk involves failure. Failure is not a bad thing if we are willing to learn from our mistakes, instead of sulking. There are plenty of reasons other than our mistakes for failure. External factors, circumstantial elements can work against us.

The Question is what have you lost in failing? If you have not lost your life, you have lost nothing. Wealth can be earned back. Jobs can be found. Houses can be bought back. Everything is possible as long as we have a life. I strongly believe, when our intentions are right and the path we choose is ethical and correct, we can always gamble a chance of failure. We won’t regret. Everyone in the Hall of Faith from Hebrews 11 have risked the chance of a failure but without regret.

“If you think you are beaten, you are; If you think you dare not, you don’t; If you’d like to win but think you can’t, it’s almost certain you won’t; Life’s battles don’t always go to the stronger and  faster men, but sooner or later, the man who wins is the one who thinks he can.”