Mental Mechanics: Life is a Game of Chances

“Why not go out on a limb? That’s where the fruit is.”

– Mark Twain

Taking chances in life can be scary, period. But, if we ever want to achieve the life we have always dreamed of, we undoubtedly have to take constructive, calculated chances. As you look back on your life to this point, are there times that you wish you’d been a little more daring, a bit more trusting of your abilities, and less cautious in the chances you took? Many of the individuals that I work with say that if they ‘had it all to do over again,’ they would have been more courageous, settled for less, and taken more risks. Many times we know what it is we want, but we still don’t go after it because of the perceived gamble involved. We over-estimate the likelihood of something going wrong and tend to ‘catastrophize’ about what ‘might’ happen, imagining a worst-case scenario. We focus on the potential of loss, more than any potential for gain. The benefits of taking an educated, calculated chance are many. It can: open us up to new challenges and opportunities, require us to learn and grow, empower us to establish new limits in our thinking, give us clear understandings of what we want, and help us break free from our average way of living. Take time today to explore your own situation. How do you approach taking chances? Is there something you have been avoiding, because you were afraid of the potential “What ifs?” involved? How will this avoidance affect your life one year from now? What would you go for, today, if you were to be more courageous? It is necessary to take chances to achieve anything significant in life. You will never know what you are capable of until you try something you’ve never done. Go for it!