I am not a risk taker, although I used to be… kinda.
I was spontaneous, I was willing to try anything, I was a proponent for change, and I had the arrogance of youth to think I could handle whatever life throws at me.
I thought the big payoffs came from big risk.
So I would agree to try most things.
It took a few years before I figured out that wasn’t working.
What I was agreeing to was more reckless than risky and because I had chose one (unhealthy) relationship to invest in, I wasn’t careful with the others.
Risk means loss.
What are you willing to risk, really means what are you willing to lose.
Warren Buffett says, “Never risk what you have and need for what we don’t have and don’t need.”
Warren Buffett is synonymous with investment advice, but his words are universal.
The most important assets have nothing to do with money.
Your reputation and your relationships are the most important assets you have.
Trust is at the heart of all of it.
If people don’t trust you, you are always swimming upstream.
If your reputation becomes that of a scammer or a shyster, nobody will buy what you sell (the second time).
What promises do you make that you can be trusted to keep?
You can promise to tell the truth.
You can promise to teach them something they don’t know.
You can promise to support and encourage.
You can promise to help.
When you don’t keep the promise you are making, people won’t listen to you anymore.
When you make a promise you can’t deliver on, you chip away at your asset.
But when you do keep your promise, you build trust and you build relationships.
When you have built that asset up (Kevin Kelly says to 1000 people that trust you) then you become indispensable.
That isn’t something that you should ever risk losing.