As I sit down to write this, I am looking at the little box pictured above. Many years ago, when I started my company, T3, I was having breakfast with my mother-in-law, Isabel Gaddis, at her South Texas ranch. I laughingly told her I felt like I was eating risk for breakfast every day with the challenges of my new fledgling company.
After our coffee, she asked me to follow her into her living room. On one of her side tables was this enamel-embellished box that said “Everything is sweetened by risk” on the lid. She asked me to take it as a reminder that the best things in life many times require taking a big risk.
Later I discovered this quote is attributed to a Victorian-era Scottish poet, Alexander Smith. Smith himself had a life of risk and danger, but is still known as a representative of the “Spasmodic” School of poets and essayists, now fallen into oblivion. He penned some profound words, and I am glad I discovered this phrase of his.
However, as I dig deep into thought behind Smith’s quote, it appears he means that achievements, rewards and experiences feel much more satisfying or “sweet” when there is a chance of failure. When we are uncertain about an outcome, taking a big risk can make us so much more appreciative of the final result, should we succeed.
That is why I advise that goal setting should be full of risks and “reaches.” If they come too easily, it can feel unfulfilling and dull. The “sweetness” comes when you realize you had to push through and endure obstacles to hit those peaks. Sometimes frightening, but as we also say, it’s “the thrill of the hunt.”
Isabel also reminded me that many times she would see people abandon a cause or dream because they were not willing to take those last steps of risk. It takes perseverance and guts to move on when, at times, the end result seems a bit hopeless.
On the flip side, I am one of the first to advise that if something is just not going to work, move on quickly. The need to “fail fast” is so important if you are faced with truly a lost cause. Move on, and set your mind on another challenge to invest your time and energy into to make happen!
When I think back on each time I took a risk that had failure signs along the way, I was motivated to prove others wrong when the naysayers said to abandon the project.
And that is why I still keep this little box on my desk. To close, I share a quote from another great philosopher and leader, Winston Churchill. In a rallying wartime address to the students of his alma mater in 1941, he proclaimed:
“Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never—in nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.”
We face all kinds of enemies. Sometimes we are our own worst enemy that stops us short of success.
Risk is worth it,
Gay Gaddis
Founder. Author. Artist. Trailblazer.
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