Life is a series of risks. I believe you can’t do anything of true worth unless you’re willing to risk.
But there are three categories of life-risks available to you. Over the last few months, I’ve been working my way through all three, figuring out how they impact my life and the success I’m working toward.
Here are the three life-gambles and what they mean for you.
1. Getting others to bet on you.
This is the most common type of life-gamble. It’s the job you got or the agent who decided to work with you. When someone bets on you, it means they’ve seen something in you they like and want to get behind.
Most people live their whole lives here, hoping people will continue to bet on them. I’m convinced this is an important type of life-gamble, but it’s just the first step.
2. Betting on yourself.
Unfortunately, few people get to this life-gamble. This is when you go into business for yourself. It’s when you decide to self-publish instead of going the traditional route (your own choice, not just the fact that everyone is saying no).
To be honest, I’m barely here. I continually revert back to hoping others will bet on me. But I realized when I lost my job a couple of years ago that I was waiting for others to invest in me. I was hoping they would find something valuable in me and would bankroll it.
Lately, I’ve realized I should sink money into myself. I should fund my next book project. I should start that company. This is a good start. But now I’m working my way toward the last type of life-gamble.
3. Betting on others.
If few people get to the “betting on themselves” phase, fewer people get here. This is when you have bet in yourself enough that there’s enough left over to bet on others.
It’s lending money to a friend’s venture or lending your expertise to someone’s new business.
Each of these levels require a certain amount of confidence. The first requires confidence that you can live up to other people’s expectations. The second requires that you live up to your own. But the last one requires the most: It requires a confidence in the other person and in yourself.
It requires confidence that they can come through, but also confidence that you have something to offer them in this journey toward success.
Lately, I’ve been working on positioning myself in that third category. I’m still betting on myself. I’m still relying on a few people here and there to bet on me too. But I’m trying to devote most of my resources to betting on others. I’m finding people who have something to offer and helping them offer it.
I’m convinced this is something that should be a natural part of aging, but also something where Christians should excel. We should be the ones encouraging dreams with our time and resources. When we do this, we not only see our own dreams come true, but we become part of seeing others’ come true too. That’s an amazing thing.
