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Risk-taking Leads to Failure Which Paves the Way for Success
My husband is a risk-taker, I on the other hand, am not. I come from a long line of people that aren't risk takers. We go for stability. The steady paycheck, the long-term job, and in many aspects 'the easy way.' After all, isn't it the easy way out to take a job where you are told exactly what to do day in and day out. You may be very good at what you are doing, but there are generally parameters in that and most people are content to stay within the parameters.
I have had jobs in my past where I did fantastic with them. I pushed the envelop a little and introduced new concepts, but I still new that I was within those safe parameters...my check would still come on time and if my idea didn't work out, no harm, no foul. If my idea did work out, then I would get some pats on the back, but it didn't really move me up the ladder of things because I was still within the definite parameters fo what I was doing.
My parents are the same. They are hard workers who get excellent reviews at the jobs they do, but who had the potential for doing something new and exciting outside of the parameters of safety and they chose not to follow them. My father is an A-1 carpenter with over 40 years of experience. He never really went out on his own though and started his own business. He dabbled in it very briefly after a lay-off, but even when he left the corporate world to pursue being a carpenter full-time, he preferred to take a position where someone else dealt with the big picture stuff, and he dealt with his own little part. My father is a dying breed of carpenter. He is one who actually cares about the quality of his work and if the lines are straight. He could have had a thriving business, but he wasn't a risk-taker, so he went the safer path.
My mom is a wondeful cook. She spent about 40 years working in secretary/office assistant type positions. She would have done a wonderful job with opening a restaurant, or better yet a bakery. She has a flair for trying new things and they come out perfectly. She is asked by people far and wide to bring goodies to a variety of functions, because people know that what she makes will be fantastic. But she never took the step to give it a whirl. Partially because she prefers the safe route and partially because she was afraid to fail.
My husband, as I have said, is a risk taker. This had led to many grey hairs on my part, but it has also led to incredible successes and wonderful adventures. These started with when we toured the Shenandoah Valley for free because he was writing an article on bed and breakfasts and restaurants in the area. He simply wrote letters, called around and we were on a three day trip where we got to dine and sleep in places that at the time we certainly couldn't afford. Daniel is a visionary. He has one invention that is patent pending. He has a couple of others that we haven't put throught the patent process because of lack of funds. His belief in himself and his abilities and his desire to push the envelope have led him to work in D.C., San Francisco, Manitoba, Houston, Petersburg, Detroit, Sacramento, Connecticut, and now maybe Chicago. Not all of his ideas have come to fruitition and there are times when I am ready to pull my hair out because I long for the safety. But then I see him rise from the ashes of his failures, a little bit smarter and ready to conquer the next adventure.
It is better to have tried and failed, than to never have tried at all. I believe that and I struggle to over turn my own 'safe and stable' desires to be those more geared towards ones that will at least strike out and give something a whirl. If it doesn't work out, I hope I will follow my husband's lead and brush myself off and try again.
