This is a guest post by James Adams
To get ahead, you need to take risks. Before jumping into a project, you need to assess the risks that you are willing to take. Here are ten considerations for smart risk taking.
1. Take lessons from the past
Every success and every failure has lessons to be learned. Is this a new project? If it is, there are others who have taken similar risks. Is this an improvement on an older project? What are the lessons that can be learned from the older project? Every failure is a teaching experience.
2. Set a time frame
When you prepare yourself to take a risk, establish a time frame within which you expect to see results happen. If you know that it takes at least two months to know whether something is successful, don’t start measuring results after the first month. Give your ideas time to come together.
3. Define success
Assessing the success or failure of a project means that the qualities of success have been defined. For that new website to be successful, what needs to be in place? Do you need to have X unique visitors? Do you need to make X in sales? Define your winning scenario.
4. Conquer your Fears
Fears lead to doubt. Doubt leads to inactivity. There are many people who are content to sit on the sidelines because they are not willing to take the risks required. You are willing to take those risks. Don’t let doubt and fear get in your way.
5. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket
Do not be so wholly committed to your project as to put everything on the line. Your venture could be a great success or a great failure. If your venture ends in disaster, have something in reserve from which to rebuild. Like in gambling, bring only what you’re willing to lose.
6. Don’t endanger yourself
Before you take this risk, think about what you are doing. Is there some part which, if it goes badly, can endanger your life physically or emotionally? Does the idea inherently bring harm to the people around you? Make sure that the rewards are going to be worth the risk that you’re taking. Else, don’t take the risk.
7. Do it now
Take immediate action. The momentum from the idea will carry you through. That progress that you make in the beginning will set the precedent for how the project is going to progress. Start immediately and take the risk. Create a foundation on which to build.
8. Be willing to fail
The risk that you are planning to take might be foolproof, but still allow for the possibility of failure. There is nothing wrong with failure, it just primes the pump for future successes. Any project that you start has the possibility of failure.
9. Don’t listen to nay sayers
Some people are determined to take you down a few notches. They will reveal their lack of confidence. They’ll tell you that your vision is too risky. They see that your risk taking is a threat to their well being. Don’t allow the naysayers to take you from your dreams.
10. Be committed
Great ideas sometimes fail because the person behind it was not wholly committed to the effort. If your dream does not have enough energy, it will end up on the floor as a mediocre success or a failure. Believe that your project can work. Believe that the risk that you’re taking is worth all of the effort.
Risk taking doesn’t have to be terrifying. Plan out what you’re wanting to do. Think about the risks that are involved. If the risk is not worth the effort, go back to the drawing board. If the risk is worth the effort, go for it!
As a tech writer, James Adams covers developments in technology for a leading ink cartridges store based in the UK. He spends most of his time reviewing products such as HP 901XL ink, but when time permits he post about art or design on their blog.
Related posts:
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks Joe for your helpful comment!
Good list here. In order to take calculated risks we really do need to position ourselves in a way where balance is still capable. I guess this would involve gauging the level of a risk and really projecting the benefits. Making sure it’s really worth it, and if we’re willing to stick it out. Thnks!
{ 1 trackback }