risk | con/text

Try and Fail and Try Again

If you’re a person who lives a life worth living, then you take risks. You work your butt off and you hone your game, and when a long shot presents itself – you take it. But you don’t always make it. Because it wouldn’t be a long shot if you did.

But here’s the deal. If you do it right, people respect that. They respect your hard work and your creativity. And sometimes, that opens a door to the place where you are supposed to be instead. Because it takes failing to succeed. Just look at the false starts and failures of Abraham Lincoln or R.H. Macy or Michael Jordan.

A guy once told me on the topic of asking girls out, “Every no you get is one no closer to a yes.” While that may not be statistically verifiable, it makes a good point: you have to keep trying.

I believe I’m one of those people who lives a life worth living. I will fail sometimes. I will succeed sometimes. But I’ll keep taking risks. Because where’s the excitement in putting everything on the line for something better if you already know what outcome will be?

2012: 07/06
CATEGORY: Life
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On Disruption

A recent article by Erika Napoletano (who I think is one of the best writers in Denver, by the way) tackles a subject that I’ve been trying to implement for a while: disruption. To disrupt means to do something that scares you, whether presenting a new idea or taking on a new challenge. In this context, I take it to mean disrupting my own comfortable rhythm of the day-to-day and taking a real risk. I can’t even iterate how important this has become in helping me feel alive. Whether speaking up with a radical idea in a meeting with lots of folks way higher up the ladder than you or jumping out of an airplane, you’ve got to go for it. The rewards can be so much more than you expected.

What this recently looked like in my personal (well, semi-professional) life was playing my first show with a new band. These guys are all top-notch musicians who can hang with the best of the best professional musicians out there. I didn’t consider myself anywhere near the level of musicianship as them, and the thought of taking the stage with them sort of terrified me. But I decided I’d never know quite what I was capable of unless I pushed to find out. Well, we played that first show, and guess what? Turns out I can hold my own. Did I practice the songs almost every day leading up to the show? Yes. Did 98% of me think I wouldn’t be able to pull it off? Yes. But I didn’t listen to that. I listened to that two percent that told me I could do it. Taking the risk and achieving what I set out to in this case has changed my own perception of myself as a musician…and that is extending into my life in general. I don’t plan on ever losing the humility and gratitude I have, but I do plan to continue to nurture my growing confidence that I can achieve things much greater than I previously thought I could.

(that’s me on the far right)