Risk-Taking

A few years ago, my dad set me on a success project journey – which I hope to explore further in a later blog post, but it’s relevance right now is that one of the biggest outcomes from that project personally, was the realisation that success and risk-taking go hand in hand.

I like to think that I am quite self-aware, although this may not be the case, and in reflecting on this outcome, I realised I had quite a risk-averse personality - which was something I wanted to work on as I wanted to grow and become a risk-taker.

For quite some time I have passively decided I wanted to practice taking more risks but haven’t taken any action towards doing so and recently I decided this needed to change. I realised that saying I was going to take risks and actually taking risks are two entirely different things.

The predicament I found myself in was that I couldn’t think of a way to develop a habit of risk-taking where I was genuinely and unbiasedly practicing taking risks. Upon reflection, I realised that the best way to go about this may be utilising AI.

Firstly, I researched the best ways to learn to take risks before asking it to develop me a 30-day programme designed to gradually push me out of my comfort zone regarding taking risks. I then adjusted the programme where necessary so that I could feasibly participate in each of the risks and achieve this 30-day goal.

My decision in writing this blog post was predominantly to hold myself accountable with the target but secondly to encourage my readers to either join me in this challenge and develop their own risk-taking ability or to set themselves a challenge to help them achieve a different personal goal. So, I will be reflecting weekly on my journey and experiences, in the hope that it gives anyone joining my journey accountability and everyone else some inspiration, however tiny it may be!

The thirty-day programme consists of the taking the following risks each day:

1. Order a drink or meal you’ve never tried before

2. Compliment a stranger in person

3. Go an entire day without using your phone

4. Post a thought online (like to your story) you wouldn’t normally

5. Ask for a discount even if you expect the response to be no

6. Call someone rather than texting them

7. Wear a bolder outfit, that you wouldn’t usually wear

8. Initiate a conversation with someone you don’t know

9. Actively disagree with someone when you have a different opinion to them

10. Go somewhere alone and introduce yourself to someone else

11. Try a physically challenging activity

12. Spend a day actively saying yes to everything

13. Sell something you no longer need

14. Smile, make eye contact, or greet 10 strangers

15. Ask a stranger for a favour

16. Have a difficult conversation with someone

17. Negotiate on something (for example, a deadline, or the price of something)

18. Contact someone you admire for advice

19. Share a personal failure or setback

20. Do something embarrassing in public

21. Ask for something you expect will be rejected

22. Set a long-term personal goal (and stick to it)

23. Take the lead in a group setting

24. Send a message to someone you haven’t in ages

25. Say no to something you don’t want to do

26. Film yourself doing or saying something and post it online

27. Spend an entire day without planning anything

28. Share a vulnerable or controversial opinion in public

29. Sign up for something you wouldn’t normally (and follow through on it)

30. Create a risk portfolio, summarising and evaluating everything you have done over the 30 days

The idea of these challenges is to gradually push yourself out of your comfort zone to help build confidence, embrace uncertainty, and take action despite of fear. This should by the end help you feel more accustomed to taking risks, and doing things that make you uncomfortable, which will be especially helpful when having to take bigger risks in the future.

As well as this, it should help develop an understanding of which risks are worth taking, and how far you personally are willing to step out of your comfort zone for a beneficial outcome. In other words, to learn where you personally draw the line of risk and reward.

It is important to note, that when setting a challenge like this, you must give yourself some grace by allowing some flexibility – taking a risk from another day is far superior to taking no risk at all and even if a day is missed, it can be picked right back up the following day.

To conclude, I hope you take this chance to reflect and join me in becoming more of a risk-taker. If you do join me in this journey, I'd love to hear your stories and progress over on instagram - just give me a tag! Thank you for reading, I hope you have enjoyed my thoughts on taking risks found some use in it.

Hope you have the best week,

M xx