Play it safe? No thank you!

How safe should you live life? Well, you obviously don’t want to live so close to the edge that you’re always in danger of killing yourself, but you shouldn’t live always looking for the 100% “safe” option in life.

Because here’s a secret that we all forget from time to time; there is no 100% “safe” option in life.

Did you get in your car and drive to work this morning? 49,000 people in the United States died in auto accidents in 2004. 1.1 million people world wide died in auto accidents, and 38 million were injured.

Even if you’re the most risk-averse person out there, it’s very likely you get into your car every day and drive somewhere - to work or to school. Driving can be a risky proposition, but we all still do it.

We do it because we calculate that we’re pretty likely to be safe, even while involved in a potentially risk activity. We weight the odds and roll the dice.

I love the quote director, screenwriter, and producer Robert Altman:

“To play it safe is not to play.”
–Robert Altman

The people who learn to play are those that excel in life. And when I say “play” I mean learn to take calculated risks while seizing the passion in their lives.

Have you every dreamed about staring your own business, but fear held you back? You’ve played it safe. If you did start your own business, what’s the worst that could happen? You might fail, and depending on how badly you fail you might lose your material possessions.

But you’ll still have your health. And you’ll have something more important and that’s the experience that will benefit you in your next endeavor.

Magicians Penn and Teller have a rule. They call this the rule of NPD - no permanent damage. Before undertaking a risky stunt or a tricky magic routine they ask the question, “Will this permanently cause me damage?” If the answer is yes, they don’t do it.

They are playing and not playing it safe. And they are outrageous and larger than life because they’ll undertake something that’s risky and on the edge. They’re using their rule of NPD to make them superstars - why can’t you?

Let me share a story…

Years ago I started an Internet business. It wasn’t because it was “the thing to do”, but because I really loved the potential and the possibility that the Internet represented. I knew how to make the Internet do what I wanted, but I didn’t know the first thing about running a business. I was a 20 year old college drop-out who had never taken a business class in his life.

It quickly became apparent that while I had all the necessary skills I needed technically, I didn’t have any of the necessary skills to succeed in sales and running a business. Sure, I was able to fake it for a while, but eventually my inexperience caught up to me and it all came crashing down around me. I lost everything I had at the time (which was admittedly not much at all), but I was still alive and I was still looking at things and trying to make the technology connection. I suffered no permanent damage.

So I tried again and put in place better systems to shore up my own shortcomings. And I fared much better. Bad decisions on my part (and my partners’ parts) led to us selling our business at the bottom of the “dot.com” crash rather than at the top (we go greedy). But that experience left me with more life experience and set me up for the next thing I tackled.

If I had played it safe, I probably wouldn’t have started the first company. But I also wouldn’t have had the experience to get where I am today and I certainly would have built the relationships and forged the friendships I have today.

I’m not advising you run out at take stupid risks because I said not to play life safe. I’m suggesting you look at the things you haven’t achieved and the things you haven’t undertaken and ask yourself why.

If it’s fear that’s holding you back, you have to ask if taking action would result in permanent damage. If the answer is yes, then you have to tweak your action or your desired outcome until you can confidently say that undertaking the action will not result in permanent damage.

And once you’ve tweaked and changed to this point, you need to take action! Get your risk under control and then “just do it!”

Don’t live life by playing it safe. Go and be a superstar!

* * * * * If you enjoyed this article, will you please consider bookmarking it on del.icio.us?

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• What’s coming in your future? Part 2

February 24th, 2006

Entry Filed under: Passion, Inspiration, Beliefs