The Possibility Curve

Playing It Too Safe

Some of you during the jump exercise might have been thinking, “Hey, wait a minute, you changed the whole deal.” Yes, I did. Chances are that initially you were thinking about what might happen to you ‘if you took the risk’. When I changed the scenario to include a loved one who was dying, chances are your focus shifted to what would happen ‘if you didn’t take the risk’. This allowed you to see the Invisible Risk involved in not acting. Invisible Risk is the risk we take when we try to play it too safe. It’s the regret of not pursuing our talents, hopes and dreams.

“Failure is impossible.” 

—Susan B. Anthony

 

How About a Risk-Free Life

At times, the challenges may just seem too hard and you wish you could have a risk-free life. Some people say, “I’m not a risk taker. I want to avoid risk at all costs.” OK, let’s consider what kind of life that would be. How would that change your day? Maybe now you jog around the block, take a shower, drink coffee and make toast before driving to work. You’d better cut out the jogging because you could twist your ankle. A lot of people fall in the shower, so don’t go there. You might burn your tongue drinking coffee, so forget that. It’s possible that you could shock yourself on the toaster or get in an accident on the road to work. Maybe you’d better just stay in bed. Oh no! You’d better not stay in bed; statistics show most people die lying in bed. That’s right… there’s no such thing as a risk-free life.

 

Invisible Risks

What If You Do – What If You Don’t

Searching for Invisible Risks allows you to increase your information base and broaden your perspective. This enables you to make the best decision possible with the information you have available at the time. Invisible Risks are only dangerous when we don’t consider them in our decision making process. Question yourself daily about your decisions and examine how you filter information (subjective objectivity). As you climb your mountain, continue to ask every step of the way, “What if I do?” and “What if I don’t?”

My friend Brian had the dramatic experience of being with others as they came to grips with their Invisible Risks during his twenty-plus years on the streets as a police officer and paramedic firefighter. He told me, “During this time I had the opportunity to be with people in the final moments of their lives. Those were powerful, powerful moments.

The sad part was that so many people had regrets. Their regrets sounded like these: ‘I wish I had pursued that dream. I wish I had said the things I wanted to say to the people that meant the most to me. I wish I had taken a chance on the talent that was inside me. No one else knew it was there, yet I knew and I didn’t take the chance.’ Not all of us have those feelings of regret, yet far too many of us do.

 

Regrets are insidious because the question of “what might have been” can haunt you forever.

 

Regrets have a way of accumulating over the years. They can creep up on you and ambush you from behind long after you thought you had gotten over them. They subconsciously undermine your confidence and erode your spirit.

 

Invisible Risk

If I try, I risk possible failure;

If I don’t try, I risk certain failure.

 

If I change, I risk the unknown;

If I don’t change, I risk being left behind.

 

If I believe in myself, I may risk disappointment;

If I don’t believe in myself, I risk not becoming all I can be.

 

If I climb, I risk falling;

If I don’t climb, I risk never reaching the summit.

 

Frank Felt

I recently met the most extraordinary man. His name is Frank Felt. He has his Ph.D. in political science and was a senior analyst for the CIA. He was diagnosed with melanoma that spread into his lymph nodes. His doctors removed his lymph glands and determined there was nothing else left to do. It was too late for chemotherapy. Their advice? Quit your job and do whatever will make you happy. You probably only have six months left to live, at the most a year.

Frank did just that. He quit his job, sold his house, bought a motor home and went off to do something that he had only dreamed about since he was six years old: Frank ran off and joined the circus.

Now you may be thinking, that’s a great story and it is unusual, but what makes Frank extraordinary? Well, all of this happened to him twenty-four years ago, when he was forty-nine. Frank is now seventy-three and he’s still with the circus. He went from assistant manager to running the circus on the road to ring master and today he is still managing the advanced sales. Amazing, isn’t it?

 

I asked Frank, “With all your wisdom and 20-20 hindsight, what do you think happened?” He said, “I had been fascinated by the circus since my father took me at the age of five. When I got out of the service it just didn’t seem an appropriate choice for a career. How do you go home and tell your family you’re joining a circus? That diagnosis was a gift. It gave me the freedom to follow my dream. When I did join the circus I never had to work so hard in my life and I had never ever had so much fun. I just don’t think I had time to be sick any more.”

 

What Are Your Invisible Risks

What Invisible Risks are out there for you? Is there an area in your life in which you’re playing it too safe? Is there something out there that you want to do but feel it would be safer if you didn’t take the risk? Looking at risks from multiple perspectives is imperative. However, it is difficult for many of us to see the potential loss or negative consequence that comes with inaction. Too often we believe that if we do nothing, we’ll be safe. We have the misconception that if we can just ignore what’s happening around us, we won’t have to take any risks at all.

 

Invisible Rewards

Just as there are Invisible Risks, there are Invisible Rewards that can be equally difficult to see. If something doesn’t turn out as you hoped it is often hard to see the value in the experience. With Positive Risk the Invisible Rewards are made up of the intangibles like the confidence and pride you walk away with when you know you did the right thing for the right reason. Invisible Rewards lie in the wisdom and insights you gain about yourself and how you will do things differently in the future. It is the depth of character and the empathy you acquire from the experience.

 

Heroes in Education

I did an IntelligentRisking program for Peggy McAllister, executive director of the New Hampshire Association of School Principals. One of the greatest things about what I do is that I get to meet so many amazing people and hear so many incredible stories. During the association’s annual meeting they present the traditional principal of the year award and also something very special: Heroes in Education awards.

The year I was speaking at their conference this honor was bestowed on a principal who had been pressured by his school board to fire one of his most outstanding teachers. The reason they wanted this teacher let go was not for any substantial reason — it came down to someone on the board having a personal conflict with the teacher.

The principal refused based on his own principles and he was subsequently relieved of his own job. He took the risk for the right reason: to protect a teacher from being wrongly dismissed. He definitely deserved the Heroes in Education award. It would be great if every organization offered a “Hero” award to emphasize the need and value of doing the right thing.

As I’ve said earlier in this book, if you take the right risk for the right reason in the smartest way possible, even if it doesn’t turn out as hoped it still usually turns out. In addition to several invisible rewards, the principal mentioned previously received a more tangible reward: a job in a different district that ended up being a better job, with more money and an opportunity for him to work with a school district that shared his values.

So often, risks taken for the right reason that don’t turn out quite the way we hope lead to other, greater opportunities and more tangible rewards down the road.

 

Questions to Consider:

Do I often find myself trying to play it ‘too’ safe?

If I find myself waiting for everything to be perfect; how can I break out of the waiting place?

How will I prepare myself to act when my Olympic Moment of Opportunity comes along even if I don’t feel ready?

If I find myself getting too comfortable how will I nudge myself to try something new?