Risking to Win: Irrational Risk Avoidance and Real Risk

Why does it seem as though too much of our psychic energy and some of our efforts are spent protecting ourselves from perceived risks rather than producing something of benefit? I call a purposeful risk, taken to achieve meaningful progress in creating a vision affirming result, "risking to win".
Although you may feel anxiety or stress when risking to win, it is purposeful risk and when successful worth the investment.
Perceived risks result in more worry than action but they often result in misplaced action. Popular media is a big part of it but human nature is also a large player. The media uses "threats" to get our attention in a world of information overload. Every storm has become a potential "storm of the century" to keep us watching and we are promised that "poisons in our own homes are killing us", but we must stay up till eleven O'clock to find out what they are.

When it comes to human nature, familiarity breeds comfort and comfort diminishes the sense of fear. We tend to grossly over value the risk posed to us by something that is new or little understood. We also are more likely to fear something sudden to those things that threaten us slowly over time. The same principles apply in business, but I will take them on in my business oriented blog: On the Case: Business Solutions rather than in this space.

Speaking of fear, I have a master’s degree in Applied and Mathematical Statistics, and lot of student's have related to me their fear of that one course in statistics they need for their degree. But given my background, I am not afraid to delve into the data and test my own assumptions. I am 51, so I decided to take a good look at the population data from the US Census and the death data from the Center for Disease Control for the most recent data for people aged 45 to 54. (Each age group is different in its death rate and the causes of those deaths.)

When it comes to death, other than meditating or praying to transcend my fears of the finite number of days that my body will survive on this planet, is there some meaningful data to guide my actions or reduce my anxiety?

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) publishes cause of death statistics. In the most recent data available online (2004) there were 180,000 deaths among people aged 45 - 54, my group. The total population of this group was 41.5 million people. (Therefore, 4,150 deaths in the CDC data equates to approximately 1 death in 10,000 people.)The survival rate my age group was 9,956 out of 10,000 or 99.56%.
Cancer at 50,000 and cardiovascular disease at 47,000 were by far the leading causes of death with chronic liver disease next at 7,700. The old adage of eating healthy food, exercising regularly, avoiding smoking and drinking alcohol in moderation seem to be the most important actions that you could take to move your survival rate upward.

All accidental deaths were totaled to 19,675 with 8,200 deaths due to accidental poisoning and 6,600 due to automobile accidents. I do not have the information on the poisoning data but suspect that it's primarily related to medication and it was a surprise to me. (This probably leads to the spate of local news stories when it is published annually.) In the intentional category the leader was suicide at 7,400.

At age 50, the real risks to our health and safety come from our lifestyle, our household and things that we are comfortable with such as driving our car around town. The violence, disasters and exotic diseases that the news is filled with total less than 2 deaths in 10,000. That is, if they were eliminated our survival rate would move from 99.56% to 99.58%. They are neither likely nor are they a significant relative risk factor.
Personalization of one's experience often distorts our assessment of risk as well as our fears. Airplane travel on a mile traveled basis is incredibly safer than automobile travel. We tend to drive every day and are in control of our own vehicle, so even reckless drivers tend to pass off being lucky as skillfulness and are comfortable with their own driving.

In relation to creating our own legacy and "risking to win", we also tend to associate going along with the group or what's popular with being safe. Employees in a large multinational corporation are far more likely to lose their jobs due to a business decision that has nothing to do with their work or the success of their work group or business unit than someone working in a small owner-operated business. Small businesses are at a greater risk in the short-term, but the risk is in the open, is being actively dealt with and your personal efforts can have direct tangible impact.

The mistaken belief that one is "safer" when you go to work everyday in a beautiful office with well dressed people is the same mistake people make when they believe they are safe in a crowded night-club or stadium. As long as everything goes well, you probably are but when there is a crisis, you are less safe and may be damaged by the panic of those around you.

I will visit risk again in this journey to gaining wisdom and creating a meaningful legacy. I would ask you to reflect upon your fears and evaluate the underlying risks. Since there is a finite end to our bodies, we live most fully when we "risk to win" rather than merely try to avoid risk or worry.

Spiritual Path: Develoment of Personality or Character?

Several of my previous blog topics; an orientation towards solutions, technology connects and disconnects and being of value, have gotten me thinking about a concept from a book I read in 1990, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Steven R. Covey. The concept that I was thinking about this week was the difference between character development and personality development.

Covey contended that much of what was going on in the self-improvement field in the 1980's was really oriented towards personality development whereas back in an earlier time in America, people such as Benjamin Franklin espoused character development. Character development's goal is to cultivate a virtuous life and be of service to others. Personality development's goal is to sell yourself to others for personal benefit. Development of both types has benefits in the short term but our spiritual growth demands we follow the basics of character development.

In many ways, the entertainment industry, "Hollywood", is the most successful industry in the United States over the past 100 years. I am not speaking in terms of financial performance here but rather in terms of cultural dominance. There are plenty of industries which have been more profitable, but the entertainment industry has successfully positioned itself on top psychologically, due to its ability to bestow celebrity. It has made celebrity the most desired attribute in our society ahead of even wealth.

Celebrity is an extrapolation of personality development as everyone knows that celebrities have a public "persona" that is different than the actual person and their private life. It is clear with a celebrity that it is the image of the person that is being sold, marketed and the image is what is really attractive to others. It is no wonder that personality development gurus such as Tony Robbins have intertwined their own celebrity with their methods of helping other's develop.

This past October, there were three fatalities during a sweat lodge ceremony being conducted by James Arthur Ray at the Angel Valley Retreat Center in Sedona, Arizona. Mr. Ray was running a "Spiritual Warrior" retreat where participants paid $9,695 per person to spend a long weekend with the self-help guru and author. Mr. Ray gained celebrity through his appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Larry King Live and the Today show. He fled to his home in California while the participants in his Warrior program were still heading to the hospital in Flagstaff. Mr. Ray has been charged with three counts of manslaughter.

I do not know Mr. Ray, what I know about his personality is that he presented himself very well and built a successful business based upon people wanting to spend time with him. What I know about his character is his reaction to illness and death during his ceremony.

I have not sought development from people who are out on the self-promotion tour. I have mostly sought to foster my development from people who live both a principled and accomplished life. I am indeed interested in principles and accomplishments rather than merely one or the other.

Shin-ichi Suzuki, whom I have mentioned in earlier blogs, believed that character was a skill (talent) to be nurtured and developed in others. While Suzuki gained world-wide recognition through the training and development of young musicians, he always saw his primary focus as developing fine human beings. In the books "Nurtured by Love" and "Ability Development from Age Zero", Suzuki writes with deep passion about how teachers and parents can work together to develop a fine character in their children. It will not surprise you that character is best developed in children when adults model values as they work towards results.

I would urge each of you reading this blog to choose to develop your character as you work towards creating results. Do this, even if there is less to show in the short term. When you work hard towards achievement with a process and discipline that respects people and honors values there will be an enduring quality to your accomplishments. You will build yourself as you build your creation and be a full person not a persona.