The Risk of Not Experimenting

Nothing is found without experiment, and nothing is gained without risk.


I wrote these words today for a paper in an MBA class and they struck me as I finished typing them.  So often in our world we become bogged down in our fear of risk.  We have risk mitigation, whole risk avoidance teams, companies that specialize in helping you manage risk; so much so that we take the risk out of risk and lose the benefits of it.

Nothing is gained without having a little blood on the line.  If we know the sure result of a step before we take it, how dull would that be?  We'd only ever walk where we had already walked a thousand times before, and we'd never venture anywhere new.  We'd miss the wonders of the world for the familiarity of safety.


In life, in business, in everything, we will never be better, or do better, unless we try something we never have before.  We can never go somewhere we've never been, unless we try and go there.  Maybe we'll make it, maybe we won't, or maybe we'll wind up somewhere even more amazing, but we won't know without trying.


It isn't as simple as just doing I know, and there is a certain amount of planning and assurance that should be put in place, but we will never, ever know unless we try.


I mentioned earlier I am working on my MBA.  I've wanted to get an MBA for years, but always had this fear.  What if I'm not good enough, what if I can't get good enough grades, what if I fail?  In undergrad I wound up just shy of a B average and definitely had my fair share of classes I struggled with; these fears were not unfounded.  I was nervous before I began but now that I'm in it, I am doing phenomenal, so much better than I ever could have expected.  I let my fear force me to forget my own rule on always trying, and when in doubt, jump in the deep end to see what happens.


Life will always throw you a curve ball, and even the most well worn path changes in time, why not spend that time trying for something better?  


We only truly fail when we stop trying. 








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