“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.”
T.S. Eliot
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Have you ever found yourself in a position where going back the way you came is not a possibility, and moving forward, or even any other direction, seemed impossible?
I found myself is such a position last weekend. I am an experienced hiker, yet my hiking companion and I found ourselves off-trail and on the edge of a canyon precipice that went straight up about 500 feet, and straight down about 30 feet, with a steep and rugged descent of about 200 feet to where we needed to go.
We could not go back the way we came.
The only option, aside from staying put and hoping that search and rescue would find us in a few days, was to go straight down.
My friend “assured me” that he THOUGHT we could make it down safely, and I felt my heart racing and my hands sweating as I watched him make the first move down the canyon wall.
The first 30 feet was the worst, where even the slightest mistake would have had a tremendous penalty, perhaps even death.
My friend slowly made his way to a flat, stable ledge below and I mentally and physically prepared myself for one of the scariest things that I have ever done in my life.
I did everything that I could do at the time to minimize my risk:
— I cleared my mind of any possibility of failure, and I visualized making my way down safely
— I took a long drink of water, as I know that dehydration can impact muscle and the brain function
— I cleaned my glasses, as the sweat and the dust from the hike had obscured my vision
— I took everything out of my cargo shorts pockets (iPhone, camera, knife, etc.) and packed them as well as I could in my day pack
— I tossed my pack down to my friend
To make this long story short, we made it safely to our destination, which was a beautifully intact ancient cliff dwelling that was made by the first inhabitants of the state of Arizona.
The risk and the struggle was absolutely worth the reward.
Not only did we get to see something that relatively few people will ever get to see, but we both found out that we could go much farther than either of us thought we could.
Life is all about risk, and typically, the greater the risk, the greater the reward. Life isn’t measured by the number of times that we fail, it’s measured by the number of times that we keep going, even when faced with consequences for putting more energy into moving forward.
In business, we face risk and failure every day. We take steps to minimize risk, and when we do fail, we learn from our mistakes.
This week’s video reminds us that those who ultimately achieve greatness experience failure, and that we’re in good company if we have the drive to keep moving forward.
[youtube width=”590″ height=”443″]http://youtu.be/hzBCI13rJmA[/youtube]
One way to minimize risk in business is to partner with others who are experts in those areas where we’re not the expert.
When it comes to keeping you in front of your most important people, MySMARTblog is the expert in social media marketing, and you’re the expert in what you do best.
P.S. If you’d like to learn more about Monetizing Social Media for your business, CLICK HERE!
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