One thing that successful people have in common is the ability to comfortably take risks. It is important to improve one’s risk-taking ability to improve performance. The ability to take risks intelligently is a vital component for success and a big factor in determining the levels of achievement. People who do not perform well in life are those who settle within their comfort zones and develop endless recurring patterns in avoiding challenging themselves in momentous manners. In contrast, top achievers are inherently brilliant and relentless at taking risks. They are better risk takers in doing unexpected things and in taking on assignments that others would refrain from getting involved in.
There is always scope for enhancing one’s risk-taking abilities and hence improving performance. It is human tendency to remain within a comfort zone that does not entail much uncertainty, but this inability to step out of the comfort zone greatly limits performance levels. One needs to be comfortable in taking risks and dealing with the ensuing fear to adapt to new situations.
Adaptability is gradually becoming more vital and so changes, which always appears to be accelerating. To advance one’s career there is a need to take risks in adapting to new and changed circumstances instead of staying tied up in a cocoon that signifies stability and security. If one is to succeed in a world that is rapidly changing, it becomes essential to adapt to change, which entails taking some risk in getting out of the comfort zone. Change is viewed by most as very frightening and is one of the biggest sources of fear because it makes us come face to face with the unknown. It is normal to be fearful in changed circumstances but fear also has the potential to immobilize people.
The most critical step pertains to responding efficiently to fear. Fear is very powerful and is the main hurdle in making us, intelligent risk-takers. The fear of failure and rejection is always present when we take on new challenges in life and it becomes imperative to triumph in the face of such fears. Learning how to overcome fears is the most vital step in becoming a winner in life. We do not realize that our comfort zone is formed by fears to preserve life which in many cases do not have a firm ground. To be better at taking risks we need to shun the habit of being instinctively fearful and must move towards counterintuitive reactions to situations. This enables us to respond to fearful situations positively and to overcome them.
It becomes essential for us to take risks in life even if it entails leaving our comfort zones, because for each risk that we take there is always a possible reward. These rewards accrue directly since no reward or positive result can accrue unless there is some risk taken. A thoughtful and consistent risk-taking pattern will always result in compounded rewards because while taking the risk we are not aiming at several results which occur unexpectedly as a result of the risks that we have undertaken.
Such rewards would never have come if the risks would not have been taken by moving out of our comfort zones. We cannot predict the rewards that we will get by taking risks, but we know at the same time that there will surely be no rewards if we do not take risks. Indeed, it will be a shame for us to let go of the wonderful rewards that we can get in life just because we may not be willing to shift out of our comfort zones.