Daring to Take Risks by Rubell Shelly, Professor
The first time anything new and creative is proposed, it gets labeled. And the label put on these novel things is likely to be “risky”, “dumb”, “never been done before.”
“Let me get this straight, Orville. You and Wilbur are building a machine that will do what? Heavier-than-air flying machines are the riskiest hoax anybody ever palmed off on two gullible boys like you Wrights. Get a real job!”
Or maybe it was somebody’s harebrained idea of talking pictures, voice transmitted through the air, horseless carriage or people walking on the moon. More than one person was berated simply for giving voice to such “silly” ideas.
It turns out that some of the people who dared to propose such outlandish possibilities are now regarded as geniuses – revolutionaries – heroes. And it was only because they dared to question others and to question themselves. They challenged the limitations others were willing to take for granted.
There is something in your profession or business, your family or church that could be done better. A situation could be more productive. A relationship could be healthier.
Only you can decide if it will be worth it to undertake something so ambitious and costly. There will be false starts. There will be embarrassing mistakes along the way. But the potential outcome could be as important to your personal situation as the achievements of the Wright brothers, Rosa Parks, and Neil Armstrong were to their time and place.
Today there are just as many frontiers to challenge and conquer. And too few explorers. There are too few people willing to ask the obvious questions and challenge the traditional wisdom. And when you boil away all the excuses, reasons, ration-a-lies, and anal-yzing, there is just one underlying emotion that has killed countless dreams, goals and aspirations.
In a word, too few of us want to take the risks that could make us look stupid.
If you are fortunate enough to have a dream in your heart, be willing to make mistakes in pursuit of it. Be a risk-taker. You just might change the world.
Rubel Shelly
Live with Intention,
Bill