Risk & Reward

For the majority of goal-driven individuals, the New Year is a perfect excuse to revisit old goals and set new ones. As I sat reflecting on the past decade and looking ahead to the 2020s, I realized that my biggest, hairiest and coolest achievements came about after I took some big risks that, at the time, others thought were crazy. 

The Great One (aka Wayne Gretzky) said it best himself, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”  If you don’t step out of your comfort zone to try something different whether it’s in your personal life or professional life, you’ll never know what you are capable of accomplishing. Will it be easy? Heck NO! Will it be worth it – hell YAH! Growth doesn’t come from staying status quo, it comes from taking chances, looking for new opportunities and finding ways to make them work. Does this mean that every risk will reap big rewards? Absolutely not. What it does mean though is that if you don’t try, you’ll never learn something new, make mistakes and improve or attain your lofty goals.

When you take a risk and know what you’ve invested (eg. time, money, emotion), you better believe you are going to work extremely hard to make a good return-on-investment. There will be days you’ll want to give up and you may even regret your decision, but if you persevere and keep pushing, there will come a time when you’ll look back and see how far you’ve come from where you began. This will keep you motivated to continue.

So, as we look to a new year full of personal growth and professional development, let’s set some stretch goals and take some calculated risks. The 20s roared in the 20th century and I believe they will again in the 21st.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!