There's a certain degree of risk in any venture. For the entrepreneur, charting the course of opening a new business has about as much potential to be successful as there is for it to be a complete flop. Taking a relationship to the next level can be a move in the right direction, but it also involves the risk of rejection or disappointment. Choosing to make a career change places the comfort of the known on the shelf and shifts our current lifestyle to the "at risk" category. The coach making the call to go for it on fourth down, the twenty-something year old who decides to join the Air Force, or even the chef who decides to tweak her recipe, every decision has a risk factor quotient.
So, common sense would cause us to ask the question, "Then why take the risk? Stay the course with the established and proven path and reduce the risk of failure." Play it safe, don't mess with the formula, I mean remember "New Coke"? It just seems logical to not rock the boat, right? On the surface that may appear to be the right choice, but in all actuality, the choice to not take a chance has the potential to pose as much of a risk factor as taking the plunge and falling short in the endeavor. At the end of the day, if success was a guarantee, then everybody would inch out on the limb a little further, but the hard truth is that even if you work your hardest and you have the best idea in the world since a pocket on a shirt, sometimes things just don't work out and the outcome appears to be failure.
Yet, what if you don't take the chance? The risk of failing to launch may have more long-term detrimental impact than taking the shot and missing the mark. If you attempt and miss, you have the memory of what went wrong which provides the opportunity to improve those aspects of the process. Going forward the chances of being successful armed with the knowledge of what not to do are improved exponentially. Read Dweck's "Mindset: The New Psychology of Success" for a much deeper look into the idea of a growth mindset versus a fixed mindset. Taking a chance may have risk associated with it, but not taking a chance stunts our potential and limits our opportunity to impact the world!
What is the difference in the person who doesn't take a chance and the one that breaks the glass ceiling and impacts the world in which they live? I believe the deciding factor is faith. Faith that says "He who is in me is greater than he who is in the world" I John 4:4. Faith that faces adversity and doubt and moves forward boldly and confidently, "Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong." II Corinthians 12:10. Faith that says I may get knocked down, but I will get back up again! "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33. Faith that says take the risk, you are not taking it alone! "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." Psalm 23:4. As we noted earlier, any venture has a certain degree of risk associated with the choice. The risk of failing to make a choice carries a much greater risk, the risk of failing to fulfill the purpose God placed you on this earth to fulfill!
Coach Carter
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