One of the foundations of success, is a willingness to go out on a limb, when necessary. In fact, in business and in life generally, all meaningful progress is preceded by the decision to take a risk, go out on a limb and do something.
Out on a limb
Starting a family, starting a business, relocating – all of these life changing decisions require us to go out on a limb. One of the oddities of life, is that even though the decisions that lead to the most progress in our lives are preceded by risk, we tend to opt for certainty instead. The pull of the comfort zone is clearly too strong, for most to resist.
The challenge with opting for the mediocre decisions, is that they tend to lead to mediocre results. In our strive for certainty and security, it’s easy to justify playing it safe.
After all…
- If we don’t state our opinions, our opinions can’t be criticised.
- If we don’t start a business, the business can’t fail.
- If we don’t ask that amazing person for a dance, they can’t say no.
Mark Twain and going out on a limb
Yesterday, I discovered a wonderful quote from Mark Twain, which describes the importance of going out on a limb far more eloquently than I can. As with all great writers, Twain managed to make the point in very few words too. There’s beauty in brevity.
Here’s what he said:
Why not go out on a limb? That’s where the fruit is.
One of the great ironies in life is that playing it safe is one of the riskiest things we can do. The risk averse business owner places an incredibly low ceiling on his or her potential.
As Twain said so beautifully, the fruit is out on a limb. The fruit in life and business, belongs to those who are willing to go out on a limb and harvest it.