What is it that we all do everyday, some people don't want to do it at all, and some people want to do it all the time? No dirty thoughts please. The answer is "Gamble." I'm not referring to dice, roulette, or horse racing. I'm referring to gambling with our lives.

Yes, We all do it! "Life" is a gamble. From the moment we put or feet on the cold floor in the morning till we lay our heads on the pillow at night we gamble. It really doesn't matter how small we try to make that time between getting up and going to bed we still gamble. We get into our 500 Kilo bullet we call a car and travel feet if not inches from other bullets. We get into planes and wonder if we're going to land safely. We pass the next gas station betting we have enough gas to make it just one more town. Each decision we make is a gamble with different stakes.

But some people don't want to gamble at all. These people are called risk aversives. My best example of a risk aversive person lived across from me in Colorado. John was so risk aversive that when we went down to the corner market he would plan his driving route so he only had to make right turns. John didn't want to make left turns because there was too much risk involved. You can imagine his fear when he hit an unexpected detour. John is practically a hermit and will probably never amount to much.

The opposite of John is the person that likes to gamble all the time...my life long friend, Dave. Dave is a risk taker: Bungee jumping from higher bridges, climbing taller mountains, sky diving, speculative stocks... and for Dave, some of the thrill is "not knowing" the odds. Dave is the kind of person that will dive into an unknown lake, not knowing what's in the water. Gives me the chills just to think about it. Dave is running his own business and nets about $60K a month and lives a very comfortable life.

These two examples are on the extreme and it doesn't necessarily mean that you are born to be risk adverse or a risk taker. In fact the opposite is true. Imagine a young lad with allergies and asthma, kept locked safely away from the harshness of the world by his parents. Finally, at the age of 12, he was allowed to try out for a sport. Scared but willing to "take a chance" he takes his "too big baseball glove" his 50 cents registration fee and injury release form and went to play baseball. Standing in the field for the first time among veteran players he tries to catch his first fly ball blinded by the sun and (sound) the balls hits him on the head. More humiliated than hurt, our hero returns home, the start of a chronic risk adverse person. That boy was me.

Several years of risk adverse behavior pass by and in steps Dave. Dave convinced me that I was a better athlete than I thought. He convinced me that if I could get over my fear of humiliation that I would be a success. He convinced me to "take a chance." Dave was right.

Since then I have learned to "take a chance." I took a chance and went through ROTC to become a military officer when it wasn't that popular to do so. I took a chance on working with Nuclear Weapons, you might notice my glow. I took a chance and got married, whew. I took a chance and had a little girl, born 3 months early and barely lived but doing fine now. I took a chance when my wife wanted to come to Taiwan to work, left my job and flew. I took a chance having another baby, also 2 months premature but doing fine. And when I found out that most executives surveyed in a popular business magazine said they feared public speaking more than death, I took a chance and joined toastmasters. This was proof enough to me that it is possible to shift from risk adverse to risk taker.

We all gamble and we're all between John and Dave, somewhere. But I hope you see that like the proverbial turtle we must be willing to stick out our necks to get ahead. And I sincerely believe the people that get ahead in life will take the necessary risks. They will stick their necks out. So the next time you're asked to make a decision that sounds a bit risky, difficult, or scary...like give a speech in front of 400 people...take a deep breath and "take a chance!"

Contest Master.