Choose a different set of risks.

That was the chapter one of the mentoring groups I host were reading and discussing in our monthly call last night.

The idea being that when you’re trying something new, something bigger (and scarier) and something outside of your comfort zone, your appetite for risk is called into question.

Can you do it?

What happens if it goes wrong?

How will you manage?

Isn’t it safer where I am?

Ha.  No.  Not necessarily to the last question.

When you think about it there’s always an element of risk in anything you’re doing, deciding, staying for, leaving for.  Always.

The current situation is always up for change, even if you’re not.

It might end, the players might change, a restructure may happen, all sort of things outside of your control.

Choosing a different set of risks is about moving towards something you’ve either been overthinking about, deliberating about or just plain avoiding thinking about!

It’s about testing yourself and trusting yourself.

As an ex-insurance broker, I dealt in ‘risk’ for over 20 years.  Over the years I made some BIG scary moves (at the time) and one of my go-to thinking questions is this.

“What’s the worst that can happen… and how will I handle it?“

The second part is the key.  

To ask yourself “and then what will I do?” gives you access to all the options you may need and actions you may take.

That reassures you.

So, as Price Pritchett the author of You2 says in the book we’re reading 

“You’ve got to understand that you can never escape risk.  It’s not something you can decide to live with or without.  Something is always at stake.  You can only decide which risks to take.”

So.  Look at your own set of risks and if or how you’re keeping yourself small and/or safe… but then are you safe?  Or is it time to choose a different set of risks….

A final word on the matter…

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And in other news…

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Whilst hosting the call I referred to above, the hounds were not so gripped by the subject as you can see…