How Much Risk Is Too Much To Take?Written by Dave Carlson
The ladder was braced against railings going to basement. I started climbing up. I had to get to ceiling and this was my Rube Goldberg way of doing it without having to put up scaffolding. I made it up two or three rungs before coming to my senses. It would be so easy for railing to break and for me to go tumbling down stairs. You see I was trying to paint my living room with a cathedral ceiling. I had to get up near apex at 12 feet. The problem was that there were stairs going to basement and nowhere to safely put ladder. So I tried bracing it against railing before giving up. I was trying to put primer over a quote painted in black that said, “It’s not how far you fall, but how high you bounce.” It would have been so ironic for me fall from ladder while trying to paint over that quote. Believe me, I wouldn’t have bounced very high. How much risk is too much? I calculated risk and found risk was too high for reward. I ended up taping a paintbrush to a long pole, and I got quote painted just fine. Just a little ingenuity. In book, “Mental Judo” by Lance Lager, he talks about falling also. “In physical judo, practically first thing you learn is how to fall. … In Mental Judo, as in physical judo, learning how to ‘fall’ is important. I don’t mean, of course, falling on your rump, but in a figurative sense falling is falling. Life is a series of ups and downs, and none of us is our imperfection can avoid taking a fall from time to time. When you don’t reach your goal, when you are rejected or ignored or just outwitted for moment, you are experiencing a fall. It is extremely important that you learn how to fall gracefully and be able to snap right back up with a minimum of effort and without fear of next fall or concern about an injured ego. Just as in skiing or ice skating, if you are not falling, you are not learning or trying something new.” We are bound to fall, whether through our own fault or fault of someone we depended on, be it life at home or in workplace. What do we do when we fall? Sit and cry? Get mad? Resign ourselves to fact that this is way life is always going to be and that success will never come my way? It can be happen in any of these scenarios.
| | The Path of Least ResistanceWritten by Nan S. Russell
I spend a bit of time on airplanes. So, I was surprised by what I observed on a regional jet. Yes, it was holiday travel. Yes, flight was overbooked. Yes, infrequent and tired travelers were creating challenges for only stewardess. Still, she saw small boy, no more than eight, seated in exit row next to his grandfather. She chose to ignore him, wishing and hoping her safety message stating a person must be over fifteen to sit in exit row would fix it. Maybe she didn't want hassle of trying to reseat passengers on an already late flight. Maybe she was tired, too. Who knows?What I do know is that despite safety implications of her decision, she chose path of least resistance that day. And she's not alone. Many people take that path at work. They choose easier way rather than doing what needs to be done. But, path of least resistance leads away from winning at working. You'll be on that path if you turn a blind eye to something you know needs solving but you don't want to address it or "rock boat;" or you let a mistake pass your desk for someone else to catch and fix because it's too complicated or time-consuming; or you ignore a difficult person or a recurring problem because you don't want to create unpleasantness or deal with conflict; or you pass off a poor performer to another department rather than face difficult conversation; or you resolve customer complaint without calling out or solving bigger issues behind it.
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