Risk Taking

I’m a risk taker.  I like breaking rules – not the legal kind – but the kind that we as humans place on ourselves as limitations.  Now, I’m not proposing we should all break rules – that would be chaos.  Nor am I saying that what I believe is for everyone. However, I feel that sometimes we all need to look long and hard at the rules we are following and decide if they really are allowing us to be who we truly are.

I’m half-way through a PhD, and I have to say being a risk taker in my chosen field isn’t exactly the most adored place to be.  However, it has taught me some very valuable lessons, none of which I learned in any class I took.

Higher education doesn’t always look kindly on risk taking or rule breaking.  Someone told me this during my past year.  I asked why.  The answer I got was, “that would mean things would change.”  I think I recall thinking, “…right..that’s the idea…”

As scary as change is, it also allows for growth.   We want growth.  I would hope we as educators would want to leave our students with their ideals and their dreams intact and send them out into the world thinking they can change things in ways they feel are good.  Will they fail?  Of course they’ll fail, but they may just learn how to succeed as well. If they can sit with the failure and learn from it, what comes again may be more failure – but it will also mean more change.  Failure isn’t failure unless you let it stop you.  Success isn’t gotten through success.  Success is gained through enormous failure.  Again and again and again.  If you don’t believe me, just look up how many times the successful people – famous or otherwise – failed before they succeeded.  Steve Jobs is a perfect example.  So is Einstein.  Led Zeppelin. Eric Clapton. Bill Gates. Obama.  Elizabeth Gilbert.  Anne Lamott. The space program.  Michael Jordan.  Snarky Puppy. My sister.  My brother. A child.

I guess that’s why I take risks and break rules.  I’ve failed so many times that I’ve learned that the worst possible outcome I can think of – that I will die – hasn’t happened upon breaking a rule or taking a risk. Sure, failure feels awful, it’s painful, it feels like everyone is looking at you and laughing.  But is that true? My guess is they’re usually too worried about themselves to care about what I’m doing.  When I can remind myself of this, it helps to know we’re all just doing our best. Besides, there will always be people who won’t like what you believe and won’t think you’re correct.  So what?  They’ll be there regardless, so best to put what your authentic self believes out into the world.  I mean, if people aren’t going to like it anyways, better to be honest with yourself. At least then you can live with it.

Back to the university…..from what I can see, risk takers don’t often enter academia.  They form companies, they form empires, they are media mavens, they are famous, they run businesses – but they don’t sit at a desk and research or stand in front of a room full of students and educate people.  I think perhaps there is an opportunity here as well.  So many of these kinds of people could truly shape the culture and society in which we live yet are rarely given the chance because they’re too ‘progresssive.’  Yet academia needs some risk takers.  People who are willing to ask the questions of why and then, if it isn’t working, find a new way.

I dare anyone – in or out of school – to take a risk on something you believe in and try something different.  Go left.  See what happens.  The worst that will happen is that you will fail.  What then?  You TRY AGAIN.  You learn from what didn’t work, what did work, and you TRY AGAIN.  You will learn, you will grow, and the people around you will see you are putting your best foot forward every single time and they will support your efforts.  I venture to guess they’ll be something different just waiting for you.  You just have to be brave enough to allow it to manifest.