One thing we all are fed into our minds from childhood by most of our elders is, “Play it safe”. Be it about our career or relationships, we are taught to keep it simple and safe to avoid failure. In very rare cases, the people around us support us in doing something which is out of the ordinary choices, of course the reason being them worrying about us to not face failure and being heartbroken because of it. And let’s not only blame people around us and society for all of this. We also tend to not take risks often because we don’t want to taste the feeling of facing a failure.

The one thing that really makes me angry sometimes is that how much we despise failure ignoring the fact that failure teaches us a lot more than success. This is one thing we all know about failures, because all of us have heard the quotes like, “Failures are the steps to success”, in our school life. All this really makes me feel that all of us are big time hypocrites because on one side we are teaching all this great stuff of not being disheartened by failure to the children, and on other hand we start being all judgmental the second a person tells us about his plans of doing something different. Instead of supporting the person, most of us end up demotivating that person by telling him that whatever he has planned involves a lot of risk and he will end up failing. According to me, what is the big deal even if we fail, at least we would not be left with the regret of not even trying. And just because you faced a failure, that doesn’t mean you are a failure as a person. I think, “Your life is a failure if you don’t face failures and learn from them.”

I am not saying that you should feel happy when you fail; it is natural to be upset when you fail. But the problem is when you stop taking risks and trying again just because of the fear of getting failed again. Getting disheartened to the point of not learning from your mistakes and not trying again is the biggest failure. So keep in mind that taking risks is not stupid. It really takes a lot of courage to try something new and taking risks in this process. And if you have that courage, no one can stop you from moving mountains. I feel that if we play safe all the times, life will be really boring and predictable, also you not taking risks means that you are going to miss some of the most amazing things in life just because you played safe and you never tried. So when I say, “Playing safe is more risky”, I really mean it.

I will try to give you some reasons that will prove that it’s worth taking risks in life:

1. You realize your potential-

You become aware of your true potential only if you take risks in life and try new things. You might even end up getting surprised when you realize how much capable you are of doing things which you never thought you could do.

2. You won’t have regrets-

Taking risks will save you many regrets in your life. Even if things don’t work out perfectly well for you, at least you won’t spend your life thinking about, “Where would I be, if I had taken that decision.” It will give answers to all your “but” and “what ifs”.

3. Boost up your confidence-

Taking risks allows you to conquer your fears and it will make you more confident as a person. It will make you feel more confident and in control of your decision making ability.

4. Helps you grow-

When you take risks, you step out of your comfort zone and when you step out your comfort zone, you grow exponentially as a person. This growth helps you both in personal as well as professional life.

5. Changes your life-

Taking risks will change your ordinary life into an extraordinary one. It will give you a new and fresh perspective to life. It will give you the strength to face the challenges in your life in a completely different way. You might also get to know a new and wiser side of yourself in the process.

Now there is one very important thing that you should remember, taking risks in life is important but taking risks spontaneously and impulsively without thinking about its pros and cons is foolish. Let me give you an example, when you decide to learn swimming, you start with practicing it in a swimming pool of appropriate water level. After you start with it, you practice it and then you try swimming in the pool of higher water level. And when you become good at it, then you may be able to swim in a river too. There is a process to everything. If you just decide that you want to learn how to swim and directly jump in a deep river then you are going to drown unless you are a super hero with some magical super powers. So always try to calculate the risks you are taking wisely to avoid a downfall. Don’t be foolish in your decision making.

Remember the stories of successful people we know, are motivational stories to us, just because they took calculated risks and broke the ordinary norms for success. I am not saying that you are going to be the next Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates or Steve Jobs after you start taking risks. Instead you are going to be the first of your kind, the first you, and it will be worth the effort and hardships.

So what are you waiting for, start taking calculated risks, explore and find out what works best for you.

Hope this article helps you get acquainted with a new courageous side of yourself. Stay tuned for more.