Some people are very risk adverse, others are excited by risk. Regardless of which category you fit into, taking risks is a must if you want to be successful in life.

Many people view risk taking as a negative factor but if you think about it and put risk taking into perspective, there are smart risks such as learning a new skill, and poor risks such as choosing to speed in a school zone. While these two risks are obvious, there are other risks that don’t jump out as obvious – so it takes some thought and consideration to choose which risks are smart and which aren’t. However, you can’t go through life without taking any risks; if you do, you won’t go anywhere.

Opportunity Disguised as Risk

Sometimes we will view something as a risk when it is really a wide open door of opportunity. If you view all change as risk, you might be missing out on something truly great. That risky (and maybe scary) offer to speak at an important event is not just a risk, it’s also an opportunity to widen your horizons and succeed on a whole new level. So what if you don’t have experience speaking in public; so what if you’re not sure if you’re going to do well. You will learn how to do it, and you’ll practice and likely you’ll succeed.

Risk Taking Improves Confidence

Remember the first time you got behind the wheel with your brand-new driver’s license all alone? You were probably scared. And, believe it or not that was probably one of the truly most risky things you’ll ever do in your life that has true life or death consequences. But, the more often you got behind the wheel, the more confidence you built in your ability to drive to and from school or work and even to the store and the movies.

It’s the same with taking risks in your business. Most of the time (depending on your business of course) it won’t be a real life or death risk that you’re taking. But the more times you risk something like embarrassment or failure, and you succeed, the more confidence you’ll build in yourself to keep moving forward.

When You Take Risks You Keep Learning

When you stay in your comfort zone you’re not going to learn anything new. To be honest, not learning anything new in this day and age is actually the most dangerous risk of all. Why? Well, you don’t see a whole lot of people making money today from making VHS tapes, for example. And it could be the same in your chosen niche today. Will people still be doing, making, offering what you offer five years from now? What about ten years from now?

Keep moving forward by taking risks to learn more so that you can move forward seamlessly with technology, and you’ll always stay one step ahead of the competition.

Finally, remember that if you have dreams and goals in life you’ll need to take some risks to move forward. No one ever made it big by staying safe. Every single mover and shaker you know about took a risk. They evaluated the risk and determined they could live with the worst case scenario and then moved forward and grabbed the risk by the throat and turned it into success. What risk are you going to take next?