Recently, an opportunity presented itself that would be considered somewhat of a risk considering my current situation. There were a number of people who were also considering this opportunity that would equally translate into a risk for them as well. Ultimately, many decided to not attempt the risk, which made me want to take a stab at it even more. The reason for this thought process is generally related to the Pareto principle, or what is better known to most as the 80/20 rule. This was initially an economic rule created by the Italian economist, Wilfred Pareto, which stated 80 percent of the Italy's wealth was owned by 20 percent of the Italian society. From this, society has created a number of different interpretations of the rule in relation to a number of different things, e.g. sales activity, marital focus, and leadership. What I related this to in consideration of this decision, however, is that 80 percent of the world rarely take risk and attempt to live lives as predictable and comfortable as possible. However, it's these 20 percent who put themselves out there and take a swing without knowing that everything is going to work out who often end up living the lives they've always dreamed down the road. If one thinks about it, the reasons one should take risk are simple.
RISK USUALLY YIELD THE BIGGEST OPPORTUNITIES
If you know anything about investing, the index funds that generally project the highest return on your investment are also the ones that either A. has the highest volatility from year to year or B. is a dependent on a set of factors or circumstances (i.e. merger going through or government policy being passed) that are somewhat out of the investor's control. The reasons the ROI is so high is because the risk is so great, so your decision to invest in such an opportunity must be offset with a return that will prove worth the attempt. This is true in life when an opportunity comes by that makes us sacrifice or puts us in a position in which we are not sure. This "unsureness" and/or sacrifice often will create a huge opportunity on the backside if we are able to get through it successfully. For those who always play it safe and "stay close to home," they could potentially be missing out on grand opportunities that are waiting for them if they are willing to get outside of their comfort zone and push themselves to another level of excellence that they may not be even aware they possess themselves.
IT'LL STRETCH YOU TO MAKE YOU BETTER
One of the great things about risks is that even when you don't succeed as you may had ultimately planned, it still stretches you to improve the person you are in a number of areas. When you take risk, the reason it is considered said risk is because there are a number of things that are outside of your control and that you don't have exact experience with per se. Often, if you desire to be successful at your new endeavor, you have to educate yourself on those things which you do not know and attempt to build a bridge from where you are to where you want to be in relation to understanding how to control the situation. By taking on this risky endeavor, you put yourself in position to stretch your current abilities and improve in areas which you may have never considered before. Often, the times of our greatest growth are those times in which we feel the most uncomfortable initially and allow ourselves to make mistakes and continually learn from them. Without taking risk, we generally do the same things over and over and have only incremental growth, if any at all.
YOU CAN ALWAYS RECOVER
The last reason why risks are generally a good idea is because, at the end of the day, there is always the ability to recover. Especially when you are young in your life, risks should definitely be more considered since, if you do fail, you have a lot of time to make up any setbacks this may have created. Admittedly, as you age, your tolerance for risk should lessen, since you have much more to lose, but if you have planned things out accordingly and given yourself enough of a financial cushion to be willing to have a minor set back here or there, you should still be able to take calculated risk to receive a larger return when it presents itself. Take Donald Trump for example; he took a number of calculated risk during the 80's and 90's in real estate and many of them didn't turn out the way he had hoped. He bombed and had to declare bankruptcy several times before getting back on his feet. His net worth before those decisions was in the low hundreds of millions (not bad, I know). His net worth now is approximately $2.7 billion. Clearly, the lessons he learned from those mistakes gave him the knowledge he needed to course-correct and create the empire he has today.
Calculated risk. As the title suggest, you have to make sure that whatever risk you take is well thought through and considered from every angle. I'm not suggesting that you should go to Vegas and put your entire life savings on black. That's just foolish. However, I am suggesting that you keep an open eye for an opportunity that you would initially pass up because it would be considered by most as too "risky" that could yield big dividends for you if you take a swing at it. As always, do your due diligence by investigating all the ends and outs of the opportunity before pulling the trigger, but don't let the fact that most people wouldn't do it deter you from taking the shot. Most people aren't millionaires either (less than 1% of the world's population to be exact).
Ken Middleton is an Account Manager at TEKsystems that specializes in IT staffing and services. He is a graduate of UNC-Pembroke and current MBA student at Scheller College of Business at Georgia Tech. You can follow his daily quotes of inspiration and motivation on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIN
Saturday, August 30, 2014
Saturday, August 2, 2014
My 3-STOP Philosophy
Recently, I've had a lot of conversations with individuals about where their life is now as opposed to where they "thought" it would be. From these discussions, I have heard the same reoccurring themes of why this is the case. These themes aren't in any way different from what we all know, but, at times, we all have the tendency to allow these things to mask the truth of what we should do to overcome these obstacles. From these conversations, I've developed three simple STOPS that will enable individuals to stop feeling sorry for themselves and take control of their lives.
STOP PROCRASTINATING
Sounds simple,but it's one of the things that hold so many people back all the time. They consistently tell themselves that they don't have the time to do something or the situation isn't perfect, so they'll put this off until later. What happens is that later turn into much later, which eventually turns into never. The trick that most of us use to justify why we have to wait to do something sounds noble or correct. We tell ourselves we are focusing on some other goal that is more important so this other thing will have to wait. People put off starting to diet and exercise until the beginning of the year because "they just started a new job and want to focus on that first." They put off going to school and improving their marketability to get a new job because their child just started at a new school and they want to put focus on him/her first. The crazy thing about this rationale is that individuals forget that there IS a way to do it all at the same time. We often try to make situations mutually exclusive when they can easily be collectively inclusive, and, by doing so, have a greater exponential impact on the quality of our lives. By exercising and dieting, one will often have more energy and greater focus to be able to dedicate oneself to his or her job even more. By going to school and, subsequently, getting a promotion or different job, one is actually being a better role model to her or his child, while also increasing one's ability to provide the academic resources needed to help the child succeed through school. There's always going to be a reason you CAN'T do something. Find the reasons you can.
STOP MAKING EXCUSES (BE A BETTER PARENT TO YOURSELF)
This is very close to the stop procrastinating axiom, except that it goes a step further by not even considering taking an action EVER because of some "legitimate" reason. The thinking is often very closely related in that one will give a good reason why she or he cannot do something based on things that just will not allow this to happen. People say they can't lose any weight because they are born with an overactive pituitary gland or thyroid (I love when I hear this). They can't get to work early or on time because they just aren't a morning people. They can't learn to cook because they just don't have the time or energy. I compare these people to bad parents who are always making excuses for why their kids behave badly. Children don't become law abiding citizens by luck. It's associated with the hard work and discipline of the parents to make sure kids stay on task, learn right from wrong, and don't deviate from the lessons they learn. When we don't hold ourselves accountable and push ourselves to do that which we know we should, we are like those lazy parents who let their kids run wild and free that we just want to smack at times (the kids and the parents). Don't make yourself a smack-worthy parent.
STOP BLAMING OTHERS AND "SITUATIONS"
The biggest difference I've seen between people who generally live a pretty successful life and those who seems to flounder throughout life and never truly progress in any capacity is that the former group rarely, if ever, blames an outcome on a "situation" or other people. They consistently are pointing the finger at themselves when something doesn't go as planned and will in no way, shape, or form deny they are responsible for what occurred. On the contrary, the latter group has a tendency to blame negative situations on everything from the weather to the astrology (You know those Tauruses are just bull-headed). It's amazing how many people truly believe they have no control or hold no blame in the outcome of a situation in which they were completely involved. I've found that the more successful one is, the more likely she or he is to actually take responsibility that most people would consider as being out of one's control. This instinct is one that comes from a feeling of a responsibility for all situations and a proactive view of what one could've done better/differently to prevent someone from taking an action that most would have never seen coming. It's a view that keeps these individuals steadily growing and getting better at "seeing around the corner." - a trait that will always keep them progressing and improving their plight in life.
Procrastination. Excuses. Blame. The three deadly "sins" that hold so many people back in life. By simply applying my 3-STOP methodology, one has the ability to easily overcome these tendencies and create the life one desires. While it may prove challenging at first, with time, the feeling of control that one will begin to feel over one's life as of result of this will be well worth the fight. And if you don't do start doing this TODAY, you don't have anyone else to blame but yourself, you smack-worthy parent.
Ken Middleton is an Account Manager at TEKsystems that specializes in IT staffing and services. He is a graduate of UNC-Pembroke and current MBA student at Scheller College of Business at Georgia Tech. You can follow his daily quotes of inspiration and motivation on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIN
STOP PROCRASTINATING
Sounds simple,but it's one of the things that hold so many people back all the time. They consistently tell themselves that they don't have the time to do something or the situation isn't perfect, so they'll put this off until later. What happens is that later turn into much later, which eventually turns into never. The trick that most of us use to justify why we have to wait to do something sounds noble or correct. We tell ourselves we are focusing on some other goal that is more important so this other thing will have to wait. People put off starting to diet and exercise until the beginning of the year because "they just started a new job and want to focus on that first." They put off going to school and improving their marketability to get a new job because their child just started at a new school and they want to put focus on him/her first. The crazy thing about this rationale is that individuals forget that there IS a way to do it all at the same time. We often try to make situations mutually exclusive when they can easily be collectively inclusive, and, by doing so, have a greater exponential impact on the quality of our lives. By exercising and dieting, one will often have more energy and greater focus to be able to dedicate oneself to his or her job even more. By going to school and, subsequently, getting a promotion or different job, one is actually being a better role model to her or his child, while also increasing one's ability to provide the academic resources needed to help the child succeed through school. There's always going to be a reason you CAN'T do something. Find the reasons you can.
STOP MAKING EXCUSES (BE A BETTER PARENT TO YOURSELF)
This is very close to the stop procrastinating axiom, except that it goes a step further by not even considering taking an action EVER because of some "legitimate" reason. The thinking is often very closely related in that one will give a good reason why she or he cannot do something based on things that just will not allow this to happen. People say they can't lose any weight because they are born with an overactive pituitary gland or thyroid (I love when I hear this). They can't get to work early or on time because they just aren't a morning people. They can't learn to cook because they just don't have the time or energy. I compare these people to bad parents who are always making excuses for why their kids behave badly. Children don't become law abiding citizens by luck. It's associated with the hard work and discipline of the parents to make sure kids stay on task, learn right from wrong, and don't deviate from the lessons they learn. When we don't hold ourselves accountable and push ourselves to do that which we know we should, we are like those lazy parents who let their kids run wild and free that we just want to smack at times (the kids and the parents). Don't make yourself a smack-worthy parent.
STOP BLAMING OTHERS AND "SITUATIONS"
The biggest difference I've seen between people who generally live a pretty successful life and those who seems to flounder throughout life and never truly progress in any capacity is that the former group rarely, if ever, blames an outcome on a "situation" or other people. They consistently are pointing the finger at themselves when something doesn't go as planned and will in no way, shape, or form deny they are responsible for what occurred. On the contrary, the latter group has a tendency to blame negative situations on everything from the weather to the astrology (You know those Tauruses are just bull-headed). It's amazing how many people truly believe they have no control or hold no blame in the outcome of a situation in which they were completely involved. I've found that the more successful one is, the more likely she or he is to actually take responsibility that most people would consider as being out of one's control. This instinct is one that comes from a feeling of a responsibility for all situations and a proactive view of what one could've done better/differently to prevent someone from taking an action that most would have never seen coming. It's a view that keeps these individuals steadily growing and getting better at "seeing around the corner." - a trait that will always keep them progressing and improving their plight in life.
Procrastination. Excuses. Blame. The three deadly "sins" that hold so many people back in life. By simply applying my 3-STOP methodology, one has the ability to easily overcome these tendencies and create the life one desires. While it may prove challenging at first, with time, the feeling of control that one will begin to feel over one's life as of result of this will be well worth the fight. And if you don't do start doing this TODAY, you don't have anyone else to blame but yourself, you smack-worthy parent.
Ken Middleton is an Account Manager at TEKsystems that specializes in IT staffing and services. He is a graduate of UNC-Pembroke and current MBA student at Scheller College of Business at Georgia Tech. You can follow his daily quotes of inspiration and motivation on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIN
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