Ikigai Thought for Today: Sure Thing Taking
Thoughts on taking a risk to live your Ikigai
One of my Ikigai traits is bringing together separated thoughts for a single idea. Today I want to share several perspectives on taking risks.
Two questions to ponder as you read these thoughts…
⒈ What risks are you taking right now to live out your Ikigai?
⒉ What risks should you be taking but are afraid to try?
"Risk-taking is inherently failure-prone. Otherwise, it would be called sure-thing-taking."
Tim McMahon
“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.”
T.S. Elliot
"Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes, and having fun.”
Mary Lou Cook
"If you take risks and face your fate with dignity, there is nothing you can do that makes you small; if you don’t take risks, there is nothing you can do that makes you grand, nothing."
Nassim Nicholas Taleb
"People who don't take risks generally make about two big mistakes a year. People who do take risks generally make about two big mistakes a year."
Peter F. Drucker
✅ Bonus questions for later reflection
Q: What’s possible for you if you do take risks?
Q: What’s at risk for us when we play it safe?
Q: What’s our self-talk that’s rationalizing why we need to stay in our comfort zone?
I love this one:
"If you take risks and face your fate with dignity, there is nothing you can do that makes you small; if you don’t take risks, there is nothing you can do that makes you grand, nothing."
I tend to look at risk (other than the physical adrenaline kind) as opportunity. It could move you forward, it could set you back. At least uncover it so we know what more we need to learn about it.
Someone in authority recently told me they think I may have an "unhealthy relationship with risk". I replied, "Yeah, but I have a really healthy relationship with uncertainty."
😅
Risk and Reward is what many of us do everyday. Simple things like driving a car is a risk....there could be an accident and one could have taken your last breathe on earth...are you prepared for that? OR getting in the car would fulfill so many other opportunities that if we did not would risk those opportunities to progress, eg making new relationships, get the basic needed groceries etc. What may be duly noted is the type or extent of a risk action. I am hiking do I risk to climb a steep mountain face with a harness just because it may feel freer or many do it just because. How do we utilize the areas of the brain involved in emotion (e.g., amygdala, ventromedial prefrontal cortex) and memory (e.g., hippocampus, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex) that particular day to make an intelligent and not so emotional decision that could save our life while still fulfilling out Ikigai moments?