Are You Willing to Risk? 9 Questions to Ask Yourself

The following is an excerpt from The Snowball Effect: How to Build Positive Momentum in Your Life. 

Willing to Risk

It takes a lot of courage to step outside of the familiar and embrace something new. Stepping outside of our comfort zone often upsets our equilibrium and makes us feel off-balance. It makes us feel anxious and insecure.

This is why people often choose to be mired in misery rather than make changes to improve their lives. But if we are willing to risk- if we put ourselves out there and become vulnerable- amazing doors will open.

Seneca, a Roman philosopher, put it so well: “It’s not because things are difficult that we dare not venture. It’s because we dare not venture that they are difficult.”

Take a moment to answer the following questions:

What areas of my life are making me unhappy?

Do I make excuses and come up with reasons to stay right where I am?

Would making a change create anxiety or a sense of loss for me?

If I were to make a change, would the grief and uneasiness that I experience be temporary?

What might I gain by making a change?

What do I have to lose by making a change?

What do I lose if I stay with the status quo?

If I make a change, what is the worst-case scenario? Can I survive it?

Life is too short to spend it in fear. Having the courage to face those fears can take you to places you never thought possible. Remember that anything new becomes comfortable and routine if it is done long enough. Identify the things that are going well in your life. These are the things that you probably don’t want to change. But also identify areas of needed growth. Making changes here will propel you to a much higher altitude. Making changes here may be necessary if you are to experience the best version of you. Sometimes it is only he who attempts the ridiculous that ever achieves the impossible.