Risk

 While there are lots of emotions, there are, when you boil things down to the basic essence, two that do the most to drive us towards or away from action. These are pain and pleasure.

Most of the pain that keeps me from acting I generally refer to as fears. Fear of failure. Fear of success. Fear of embarrassment. Fear of what others might think about me. But, all of these fears are just different forms of pain.

Making a change, or even just thinking about a change, begins to stir up these types of painful imaginations.

And that brings to mind the question, do I want to take the risk?

By default most people are wired for survival. We try to avoid what we perceive as risky, those things which we believe may hurt us. We "play it safe" by trying to maintain the status quo, because we believe it that is less painful and will maintain comfort, security, and familiarity.

Still, if most of us are truly honest with ourselves, we feel that we're meant for more. We feel the call to do more, to be more. 

What is it that we really risk by not pursuing our quantum leap?

Here's the biggest risk we take by continuing with what we are going, following our usual routines, and not pursing the progress in our lives that we desire.

We risk not getting what we want out of life. We risk only getting a small part of what our lives can be.

Take a chance on you. Risk believing in yourself and your dream.

This doesn't mean be reckless or impulsive. It means to seize the opportunities that come your way. Start believing that it really isn't any of our business what other people think about us. What is most is important is what we think about ourselves. Hopefully others will like us. The truth is most people are more concerned about what others think about them than they are thinking about you.

Challenge your perceived risks. Challenge the odds. Most likely you'll discover those risks and odds are actually more in your favor than your realized, it's just your perception was looking at them from the different view.

Don't minimize your chance to succeed by avoiding perceived risks. Yes, you will experience some unfamiliarity, and it may not feel as secure or comfortable. But, give yourself the chance. Move on those opportunities that you're ignoring.