Become Comfortable at Risk by Setting up a Stability Tripod
Risks can be rewarding, but they can also be downright frightening. Breaking out of your comfort zone isn’t easy. But maintaining several stable areas in your life makes it much easier to take risks in other ways. Author Ramit Sethi calls this “the tripod of stability.”
Its idea is to constantly maintain the stability of the three most important aspects of your life. This stability gives you the confidence to take risks from time to time. He puts it this way:
… that being able to do big means you can play and take risks in other areas. We can apply this principle in our lives. I call this concept my “tripod stability”. By taking care of big things – my home, my car, my relationships, I can accelerate my growth by taking risks in other areas, such as expanding my limits during training, experimenting in my business, or traveling to new places.
Sethi uses stand-up comedy as a metaphor. Comedians test their material in small venues. Some jokes fail – it’s a risk. But by testing which jokes are best for small audiences, comedians can tell their best jokes at large venues such as The Tonight Show or Madison Square Garden. Their consistent success at large venues gives them the confidence to sample riskier material in front of a small audience. As Sethi says, “resorting to big things to play with and taking risks in other areas.”
To come up with your own stability tripod, think about the three areas in your life that you most want to be stable in. Then focus on stabilizing those areas and look for risks in other areas. For example, let’s say your stability tripod is:
- Work (stable income)
- Your relationship
- Your savings account
Once you get comfortable with the legs that make up the tripod, you can start taking risks in other areas. This can mean traveling, starting a side business, or meeting new people. Check out his full post for more details.
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