Boosting Your Risk Tolerance
Being a leader involves understanding the importance of taking risks. Of course, risk taking often means acting quickly within a short period of time. So leaders must be savvy on the business, their relationships and innermost emotions. Reflecting on various aspects of your risk tolerance is important for living with your actions afterwards. Consider the following suggestions for boosting your risk tolerance:
- Understand your thinking process. Learn when you hold back, when you are stalling due to anxiety. Watch for those moments when you want more information. Ask yourself: Do I already have enough information for making a decision now?
- Be clear on what is critical for success. Once you know this, you’ll find it easier to know when you have sufficient information to act, though you may be uneasy.
- Practice with smaller projects. Use your skills to make time-sensitive, difficult calls that are needed for final decisions.
- Trust yourself. You have already been successful in many areas of your life. Remind yourself of the times you made unplanned decisions and were right.
- Develop your network. Build supporters and advisors to help you cope with unplanned events. Many creative solutions come from brainstorming with others.
Resource: Spring 2006, NAFE magazine
“A bad habit never disappears miraculously; it is a undo-it-yourself project.”
Abigail Van Buren