I am of those who think that nothing ventured nothing gained . Think about it, in a world of 7 billion people, if you do the same as others is unlikely to get good results. And winning is getting very good results.
"We do not dare because things are difficult. They are difficult because we do not dare.""Seneca.
-Don't listen to the malicious comments of those friends who, without taking risks, can only see the failures of other people.-Paulo Coelho.
A prestigious Harvard University professor, Ronald Heifetz, says that if you make a drastic decision in your life, you already do much more than most people. Taking a real risk is then a real rarity.
The psychology of losing-win
As one of the world's leading psychologists comments, Kahneman , In his book Think fast, think slowly , The human being tends to safety and avoids risk.
So, It hurts more to lose than the pleasure that gives us to win . This could be an explanation of why few are the ones who dare to try difficult things.
However, I believe that there are people who genetically tend to risk and therefore are more likely to achieve great results.
But let's not fool ourselves: If you do not risk you do not win, but taking chances does not guarantee winning . You may win 100 (1%), and the other 99 will stay closer or farther. The problem is that our focus of attention goes to the winner, forgetting all the others, who in fact are the great majority.
Due to this psychological phenomenon, occurs for example the typical case of someone winning the lottery and automatically sell more lottery tickets. What we can not forget is that there are millions who have not touched them.
Increasing the odds of winning
In my opinion, the best way to increase your chances of achieving what you are proposing is Take risks and persevere . The more you persevere, the more people you leave and the more you advance on the path that leads to your goal.
This is a subject similar to the one I deal with in this article On how to achieve luck .
Although the risk should not be a loss that seriously affects your Health or economic situation : For example, I would never risk making money with the bank for thousands of euros.
In my opinion the risk must lead Some benefit , Although in the end it does not lead to Your main goal . Examples:
- If you risk coming forward As leader Of group in your work and you do not get it, at least you will have learned of the process. But you will not have risked your health or money.
- If you risk going to live with your partner to another country and the relationship is broken, you will not have lost your health nor become poor.
- If you risk setting up your business without debugging and fail, you will have learned from mistakes and many skills along the way.
- If you are going to look for work abroad and find nothing, you will have practiced a language, gained autonomy and visited another country.
As for the lottery, it is clear that if you do not buy, you do not win, but I personally do not like it. I think it has no merit to play because it does not depend on anything and on the other hand, the odds are infinitesimal.
As I read, in the euromillion you have 1 probability between 116,531,800. This is difficult to understand for the human mind, but imagine that a person across the country has a marble in his pocket. You have to choose who you are, at random, without having any idea who you are. Are you unlikely to be right? For in the lottery those few odds are almost multiplied by 3.
How to have more desire to win
As I said before, the human being tends to avoid risk, does not want lost. And I've also explained how you can risk without losing too much.
So how do we find the motivation to take the risk?
Undoubtedly, focusing on the reward. But that reward must be of real value to you.
- Lovers, for example, risk going to live in other countries for their loved ones because the other person is a value of great weight.
- It is said that some of the people who achieve great achievements have low self-esteem And reaching their goals have the social recognition so longed for.
- Great players, tennis players, swimmers and cyclists are motivated to achieve. That is, they crave and really want to achieve trophies and championships. Have you seen someone more motivated to get the golden ball than Cristiano Ronaldo? Or more hardworking than Nadal?
4 Cases of people who risked and won
Actually I believe that everyone who has achieved a great achievement, has risked in a certain way. Although we do not see it, at one time or another they had to take a step that was not safe and that could suppose"to fall"(you already know that one has to risk falling, but with the probability of rising again).
Important: these cases are inspirational, you do not have to risk so much;).
1-Raoul Wallenberg
He was a Swedish diplomat who saved about 100,000! Jews of the Nazi Holocaust. In this case, I do not earn as much for myself as for others.
Due to his status - first secretary of the Swedish delegation in Budapest (Hungary) - he handed protected passports to the Jews, who identified them as Swedes. These documents were not legally valid, but had the appearance of officers and were accepted by the Germans and Hungarians.
He also took refuge with hundreds of Jews in houses posing as"Library of Sweden"or"Swedish Institute of Investigations"and negotiated with senior Nazi officials such as Adolf Eichmann to prevent the deportation of more Jews to concentration camps.
Undoubtedly, he risked being assassinated by the Nazis, in fact got to get high positions disobeyed Hitler. Although in the end he was accused by the Red Army of being a US spy.
2-Bill Gates
This man is today the richest person in the world and donates billions of dollars to charitable acts. You probably bought some of their products.
He also risked; In 1976 he left the race in one of the best universities of the world - Harvard - and moved to Albuquerque to work in his company. If he had gone"safely,"finishing the race and finding a job, the story would be completely different.
3-Christopher Columbus
It is almost certain that he was not the first European to set foot in America and it is probable that someone told him (Alonso Sánchez) that traveling to the west could reach what he believed to be the Indies.
The fact is that he certainly took the risk, did not know what he was going to find or what he would have to do. In fact, on one of his trips he was about to die and became isolated on an island close to what is now the Dominican Republic.
If he had not dared, the story may have been totally different.
4-Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin «Buzz»
They were the first men who stepped on the Moon (although there are people who say no) and actually the Apollo 11 trip was very likely to fail.
Later, there were 5 other missions: Apollo 12 (1969), 14 (1971), 15 (1971), 16 (1972) and 17 (1972) with 15 astronauts who reached lunar orbit: Charles Conrad, Richard Gordon, Alan L Bean, Alan B. Shephard, Stuart A. Roosa, Edgar Mitchell, David Scott, James B. Irwin, Alfred Worden, John Young, Thomas Mattingly, Charles Duke, Eugene Cernan, Ronald Evans and Harrison Schmitt.
And what do you think of taking a chance? Do you usually do? Who do you know who took their chances? You can comment below. Thanks!