Why Young Professionals Must Embrace Risk to Become Successful

View PDF | Print View | Html View Written by: Tom Healy
Total views: 74 | Word Count: 871 | Date: Sat, 23 Jan 2010 | 11 comments

If you are a young professional with the desire to become successful then you must understand the relationship between risk and achieving your goals. You will always be more successful if you find something you are passionate about and do whatever is necessary to accomplish your goal. The more that you are willing to risk, the greater the potential reward; if you are unable to put yourself out there and take risks at the appropriate times in life, then you will never truly know your potential for greatness. Every successful individual has taken risks in order to achieve his or her own vision of success, and you must be no different. Figure out what you want, do your best to understand all of the potential risks involved and determine whether you are prepared to handle the responsibilities and setbacks that may occur. You must also know the reward, which is achieving a goal of yours; understand the feeling of being successful and how it will change your life so that you can persevere through the inevitable difficulties.

Why is risk taking important?

Risk taking is crucial on the road to success because it challenges you and pushes you to a whole new level of motivation. People always work harder when something is on the line, both consciously and subconsciously. When nothing is at stake, there is no sense of urgency to make things happen. Risk taking gives you the ability to reach your true potential and as a young professional, nothing is more important than truly testing your abilities in order to see how successful you can be.

Risk vs. Reward

The larger the risk you take, the larger the potential reward. In any situation, ask yourself what the best possible outcome is and what the worst possible outcome is. If you have created a well defined vision of your successful future and truly know what will make you happy, then the best possible outcome is your dream becoming a reality. It's what will make you feel satisfied and proud of your accomplishments. On the flip side, think about the worst possible outcome; chances are that no matter what the worst scenario possible is, it is still worth your attempt.

When you are scared of taking a risk, just think about that worst possible outcome - for me personally, I decided to write a book. I knew it would take over a thousand hours of time and effort. What's the worst that could happen? People don't like it? Nobody even buys it in the first place? I looked at the worst possible outcomes and realized they weren't as bad as they might appear at first. If you feel as though the worst possible outcome is too significant to face, then you haven't created a vision that is meaningful enough to you.

Failure and Adversity

Taking a risk and failing is better than never risking anything in life and simply taking the easy road every chance you get. Many successful people failed before they became successful. As a young professional, you have far less to risk than you will later in life. If you wait until you are 50 years old to take a major risk, you may need to factor in a spouse, children, mortgage payments, taking care of your parents and everything else that life has a way of throwing at you as you get older. The longer you wait, the harder it may be to even take a risk and if so, you are risking a lot more and have less time to learn from your mistakes. Have the courage to take your risks when you are young; it only gets harder as times goes along. Facing adversity and failing are important; they will make you stronger and smarter. People who have not been challenged, yet fail, become afraid of failure. They end up constantly taking the easy road and often miss out on better opportunities because they were too afraid of failure. Even when you take chances and fail, you are still better off than if you had never taken them at all. The important part is to learn from everything that you do in life and to be a better person because of those experiences - whether they're successes or failures.

A Final Word About Risk

So many people fear the word risk and cringe when they hear it. The truth is, risk can be a great thing if you have created a clear vision for your future. Risk can motivate you and inspire you to do things you never thought possible. Once you have developed that awesome vision for yourself go out there and take a risk - you'll never regret it!

About the Author

"America's Young Professional Success Coach" Tom Healy shows students and young professionals the fast and easy way to become highly successful in their lives and careers. Be sure to claim your FREE gifts at Tom Healy's Young Professional Success Program and also check out Tom's Blog.

---

Rating: Not yet rated

--Choose-- 0 1 2 3 4 5

Comments

Add Comment

Your Name:


Your Email:


Comment

Top Authors