RISK-TAKING VS. IRRESPONSIBILITY

People who are irresponsible very rarely accomplish anything of importance and quite often they invite real harm to themselves. They might occasionally become involved in some activities which are successful, but these results occur so infrequently, and they are so overshadowed by negative results that they are hardly even worth mentioning.

Consider, for example, the individual who dives off a high cliff and into a shallow body of water, simply because he has been “dared” to do so by a group of his peers. Although the person in question is afraid to dive, for some strange reason he is even more afraid of what the others might say to him, or even think about him, if he chose not to dive. Clearly, the person’s fear of diving is perfectly reasonable, in view of the fact he has had absolutely no training as a diver. Furthermore, as a result of his lack of training, when he does contemplate what might happen if he did dive, he visualizes himself being very seriously injured. Obviously, for an individual such as this to go ahead and dive, would be extremely foolish—to say the least—and the person’s actions would have to be considered irresponsible by anyone’s standards.

On the other hand, however, if this same person trained to become a professional diver and if he were skilled at taking all of the various factors into consideration (i.e. if he were able to visualize himself successfully going through all of the necessary motions such as swimming to shore, stepping back on land unharmed, etc.), then it would be a totally different situation. For although the person would still be taking a definite risk, no one could accuse him of acting in an irresponsible manner.

Consider for a moment, the “stunt people” who work in the movie industry. These individuals are constantly performing dangerous acts. In fact, that is precisely what they get paid for. But do not be deceived! For the men and women who perform these stunts are not amateurs by any means. They are all competent professionals, highly skilled in the performance of their dangerous trade. They always check and then double check every calculation, before they make even the simplest move. As a result of these precautions, they are very rarely ever injured. No, there cannot be any question about it— stunt people are “Risk-Takers” to be sure, but they are very rarely irresponsible individuals!

*Investments

Now, turn your attention to the person who invests his or her hard-earned savings in a venture about which he or she knows practically nothing. Perhaps someone, possibly a relative whom the person may have held in high esteem, suggested this investment was a great idea and the investors stood to earn an extraordinarily high rate of return on it. Assume, moreover, that despite the person’s very grave misgivings about going into the venture at all, he is also being strongly motivated by greed, to seek the highest possible rate of return which can be earned on the money invested. Finally, suppose that the tremendous fear of loss notwithstanding, the person decides to go ahead and makes the investment anyway.

What happens next?
After the investment has been made, most of the person’s waking hours will probably be spent:
1) worrying about the investment, and
2) visualizing himself reduced to a state of abject poverty.

It is abundantly clear, therefore, that this sort of behavior must be deemed the polar opposite of
financial responsibility and the person involved must be considered imprudent and irresponsible, rather than a “bona fide” risk-taker. The usual outcome in a situation such as this is predictable, if not pleasing. The individual in question loses the money, not to mention the former friendship of the individual who originally suggested the investment. (The reason is that foolish, irresponsible people seldom blame themselves for making such errors.)

On the other hand however, if that person listened carefully to the suggestion of his friend or relative and then studied the situation for himself, he could have formed an opinion which was based on sound knowledge rather than hearsay, and which was motivated by genuine interest rather than simple greed. At that point, the individual could have gone ahead and invested a sum of money which would not have placed his total financial situation in jeopardy. Then, as he gathered more information based on actual experience, he could have gradually increased his investment if such action appeared to be in his best interest.

Clearly, if our hypothetical individual followed this second course of action, he would still certainly be taking a risk. However, one could not justifiably say he was behaving in the manner of a fool or an irresponsible person. Moreover, even in the eventuality that this person made a bad “judgement call,” and lost his money, that would have been all he had lost. For he would still have his friendship and he would still have his own self-respect, because he would realize he had been guilty of nothing more than an error in judgement. An added benefit of this second approach is that the individual would not automatically reject future investment possibilities, should they arise.
I am sure you are getting my message “loud and clear”: risk-takers are knowledgeable people who study situations carefully, have confidence in their own abilities and have a very healthy self-image. Put more succinctly, we can say risk-takers, unlike irresponsible people, are “nobody’s fool.”

*Business Failures

Consider this—if one were to examine the statistics regarding the number of business failures each year, without closely studying each situation separately, one could very easily conclude that going into business for oneself is an “irresponsible act.” However, that is just not the case! The truth of the matter is, many of the people who have gone into bankruptcy, should never have gone into business for themselves in the first place, either because they weren’t properly prepared for such an undertaking or because they simply didn’t know what they were doing. They lacked the skill, the knowledge, or the proper support to get their business “off the ground.” Bear in mind that although it takes most new companies at least three years before they are properly established, some of these individuals didn’t allow for three months, or even three weeks, to give their business a chance.
It is also significant to note, that prior to setting out on their own, many of these people were those employees who thought their boss was incompetent, Risk-Takers or the owners of the company which employed them didn’t know what they were doing. Obviously, everyone who fails to get a new business going does not fall into this category, but there are certainly many people who do.

Nevertheless, despite the woeful statistics, there certainly are many individual risk-takers who have succeeded in establishing businesses of their own. For example, just consider the story of a man named, Bob McCrary. Bob had worked in the electronics industry for many years and, although he had never earned what one might consider “big money,” he certainly earned a better than average income. He owned his own home, he raised three beautiful daughters, and accomplished all of this while working for someone else. But despite his undisputed success, Bob harbored a desire to go into business for himself but fear was the only thing holding him back from doing so. The truth of the matter was, that with all the things he had going for him, Bob couldn’t help but succeed.

Unfortunately, however, he was unaware of this because he had never been “out on his own” before. Moreover, he had been raised to believe the “old idea”: that a person should “get a good steady job and then work for a pension.” Still, the desire of Bob, and his wife Pat, to work in their own business persisted. It eventually grew to the point where they were actually able to visualize their business operating successfully. Since it is impossible to hold an image in the mind without also expressing it, the end result of Bob and Pat’s imaging, was the birth of their own company, "Pensacola Electronics.”

That happy event occurred just a few short years ago and, although both Bob and Pat have worked many hard hours, and still do today, they have the satisfaction of looking at what they have created together. They gainfully employ numerous people and they properly service hundreds of clients located in various American states. They have both earned a sizeable income and the net value of their company today—if they were to sell it—is greater than all of the money Bob had earned working for the other company, for all those years.
Did Bob and Pat make the right decision? Just ask them! Would they make it again? You know what their answer would be! Are they Risk-Takers? I don’t think there is any question about that!
Bob and Pat McCrary left their jobs and invested many thousands of dollars to do something which they had never done before. They had no written guarantee they would succeed in their venture, but they were not irresponsible, nor were they acting imprudently. Were they afraid? Well, I have never asked them directly, but after studying human nature for the greater part of twenty years, I feel quite confident in asserting they were.

The salient point for our purposes is, despite their trepidation, they had the courage to act in the face of their fear. For the person who analyzes a situation carefully, prepares himself accordingly and then proceeds in the face of fear with the image of success in mind, is a genuine risk-taker.

Furthermore, as you are already aware, risk-takers very rarely lose; and even when they do, they usually bounce right back to try again. In other words, risk-takers live exciting, creative lives, because they are living the kind of life that we are all intended to live.
So put a smile on your face, because as of this moment, you too can become a bona fide risk-taker! How? Simply by doing the thing you have dreamed about—off and on—for months, or possibly even years.
In the great musical South Pacific, Mary Martin sang, “If you don’t have a dream, if I don’t have a dream, how are we going to make a dream come true?” It is my belief that everyone of us has our own dream. We all have a vision, an idea or a picture of some great or grand thing or accomplishment, which will float to the surface of our consciousness from time to time. Moreover, for a few brief moments, we permit ourselves the luxury of enjoying ourselves doing, being or having, whatever that dream might be. There is no doubt in my mind that you too “hold” a picture of something which floats to the surface of your consciousness periodically, and if the truth were to be known, you would dearly love to execute that dream.
Well, the simple truth is you can. But in all likelihood, it is going to require a considerable amount of courage on your part.

Remember, it makes no difference, at this moment, how bizarre your idea may appear. In fact, you might even regard it yourself as being sheer fantasy. Nevertheless, you can begin to turn it into a reality, by making a written description of whatever it is you would like to do, have, or be. Write out your ambition in as much detail as possible and in the present tense. Do not write it out as something that you are “planning” to do; rather, write it out as if it were something you are doing currently. In big bold letters write, “I can” and then yell it, say it, sing it—drill the idea that you are now going to do this thing, into your subconscious mind. Then, choose a friend who has a lot of confidence in you—someone whose thinking is compatible with your own, not someone who will put you down and laugh at your idea—to share your idea with. Select someone who will build you up and help instill confidence in you, with respect to your idea.

Remember, it makes no difference whether your goal is starting a new business, buying or building a new home, getting a new automobile, a new position at work, setting a sales record, or getting an honors mark in school. Whatever it may be, you must step out and boldly pursue it. Keep reminding yourself that you have tremendous reservoirs of potential within you, and therefore, you are quite capable of doing almost anything you “set your mind to.” All you must do is figure out how you can do it, not whether or not you can. Begin to visualize yourself as a risk-taker and then start telling yourself you are one. Become fully aware of the “good vibrations” you get simply by virtue of practising these simple mental exercises.
But before you proceed any further with your quest, find yourself a pad and a pen. Then, prepare a balance sheet by taking an 8-1/2" x 11" sheet of paper, and drawing a straight line down the centre of the page.

On the left-hand side, place a minus sign, and on the right-hand side place a plus sign. Under the minus sign, write out the very worst thing that could happen to you, if you were to follow through with your idea. On the right-hand side, write out all the good things—the very best things—that could happen to you, if you were to go ahead with your plan. Clearly understand, that so long as what you plan to do is honest and honorable, whatever goes on the left-hand side of the page is not going to be disastrous. On the other hand, however, what goes on the right-hand side of the page could turn out to be absolutely magnificent.
Therefore, by creating the balance sheet in this manner, you are demonstrating to yourself, for your own edification, the fact you actually have “nothing to lose.” Let me bring to your attention, that simply “missing the mark,” does not make you a failure; it only means that your plan did not work out as you had anticipated. So even if you should lose everything you own, you still retain the capacity to bounce back, to try once again.

For several years now I have been in the habit of reading the biographies and autobiographies, of men and women who have truly accomplished “something of significance” in their lifetime. I have found, moreover, that almost without exception, these individuals had fallen short of their goals on numerous occasions, but that never deterred them! Indeed, I myself have experienced “failure to hit the mark,” on a number of occasions; and I will readily admit it hurts a little and it even causes a certain amount of embarrassment. But be that as it may, it has never stopped me from trying again and it need not stop you either, because we all possess the ability to get up and get going once again. Therefore, this very moment, make up your mind that you are going to become the “Risk-Taker” you truly wish to become.

To your ultimate success,

Happy James
Lead Strategist