To risk or not to risk – that can be a tough question. In the movie A Few Good Men, military lawyer Lt. Kaffey (Tom Cruise), had Col. Nathan R. Jessep (Jack Nicholson) on the stand. Kaffey's only way to defend his clients and win the case was to get Col. Jessep to admit that he had ordered a ‘code red'. This was the crisis point in the movie. The consequences of Kaffey's actions would be far-reaching for him, Col. Jessep, and the Marines. Moments before the fateful question, Lt. Kaffee stopped in the middle of the courtroom, paralyzed for a few seconds, pondering whether to take the biggest risk of his life is the midst of a crisis. In those crucial life-changing moments, Kaffee was waiting for his gut to point him in the right direction.
Playing it safe will get you middle-of-the-road results. To really break through to excellence you have to take some risks. You can either strike it rich or flame out. With the proper tools, skills, and a honed “sixth sense”, striking it rich is more likely than not. There is a difference between irresponsible risk-taking and making choices based on the confidence and trust you’ve built from experience. Most times we have no idea what's waiting around the bend, but learning how to navigate the challenging times and trusting intuition and experience is the ground that confidence and mastery is built on. Risks help create new futures. Take small steps if necessary, but keep your feet moving in the right direction.
This is one of my all time favorite quotes from the movie Million Dollar Baby narrated by Morgan Freeman, “It's the magic of risking everything on a dream nobody sees but you.”
What are you willing to risk everything on? Would love to hear your thoughts below.