‘Risk’ – Inspires Luck

‘Risk’ – Inspires Luck

Nothing new comes out of being ordinary. It is impossible to produce superior performance unless we do something different from the majority.

Life canvas is large which can be painted with our great deeds. However, to attain higher altitudes of glory we have to get consumed by our ideas, breach the comfort zones, take calculated risk and work hardest towards the mission.

Whether it means overcoming fear to perform on stage, proposing the sweetheart we like or investing in new business ventures; some of the life’s most rewarding experiences come as the result of taking risks.

No outcome is ever cent percent certain, margin of risk always exists and the quantum of risk increases when the stakes are higher. If we regularly dine with cannibals, we run a risk of being eaten by them. Therefore, take risk but not brute one; but an informed one, look before you leap, calculate before you move. Also, ensure someone is giving you safety cover as the risk is a shifting illusion.

Thought of failure scares! However, failure builds character, makes us stronger and more resilient. People who fail repeatedly, develop persistence in the face of difficulties. Failures need to be embraced upon, learned from and moved on. Abraham Lincoln had lost eight elections, had failed in business twice and suffered a nervous breakdown all before becoming one of the greatest American presidents.

Confidence is an important attribute which risk-takers have in them. Confidence is a learn-able skill, a make-believe thing i.e. we have to keep telling self that we are not scared, that we have all the courage and confidence needed to take risk. We can develop confidence by equipping ourselves with the knowledge and skills needed to achieve a mission.

Sometimes, in quest of wonderful gains we may have to take the road less travelled, and it could be a scary road to take as that may not have yet been mapped. Therefore, the things we really have by our side in the hope of reaching our destination are- our intelligence, perseverance and luck.

Figure out the most intimidating things about the big risk we are about to take. We need to do thorough home-work on the subject in order to better insulate ourselves from unfavorable resultant. Also, we need to know when to change the course and not keep sticking to our first goal as we would have invested so much of time and effort. We must know when it’s time to quit and restart with renewed vigor on the newer path.

In wealth multiplication, we risk losing some or all of the money we have invested in the business or in the financial instruments, due to- volatility, inflation, defaults, concentration risk, unfavorable regulatory changes or other market dynamics.

We may choose to make investments that guarantee safety by offering fixed rate of return, with near zero default risks viz. sovereign bonds. However, the price for this safety could result in a very low return on our investment, coming as a trade-off with an opportunity to earn higher returns if we were to take higher risk of investing in instruments like Mutual Funds or Direct Equity. ‘In investing what is comfortable is rarely profitable’.

Wise thing to do is to take calculated risk by gaining skills and knowledge of the subject. We should not over leverage, must do credibility check of the companies and the issuers of financial instruments, and cleverly diversify our investments across different asset classes and sub-classes within each asset class to earn handsome return. We need to know the rules of the game we intend to play for sure, in order to succeed.

Accustomed to taking risks, would move us away from the mediocre way of thinking and living. Instead of limiting within the cocoon of so called safety, we gain the momentum needed to reach out for newer opportunities in our career or business. Risk builds our self-confidence and self-respect, empowers us to feel stronger. Take the risk as that shall get us some of our biggest rewards of life.

Mistakes need to be made if we want to succeed and that brings lot of learning. If we’re not making mistakes then we’re not trying enough things. Venturing out is a risk meeting an accident, to strive for higher is a risk of fall, to cry in the crowd is risk appearing fool and to live at all is risk being dead. However, risk we must, because the biggest risk of life is to risk nothing. In other words, we’re not living enough.

I close this article with a line of ‘Iveta Cherneva’- “Only those who play win. Only those who risk win. History favors risk-takers. Forgets the timid. Everything else is commentary.” 

Author: AJIT SINGH