June 8, 2021
Why you must master risk-taking to seize greatness | Starting Greatness with Mike Maples
Check out Starting Greatness Episode Page & Show Notes
Key Takeaways
- Any breakthrough worth pursuing has a high chance of failure
- By definition, greatness requires the willingness to risk failure
- 3 Advantages of Taking Huge Risks
- Taking bigger risks is a competitive advantage such most people avoid big risks, thus there will be less competition
- Since there’s a high chance a risky idea will fail, on the chance that it does succeed, the payoff will be massive
- Even if your idea fails, if you take a risk no one else has taken, you will learn things that no one else has learned
- Take on the biggest risk first, if you succeed, you’ll generate massive value because you’re pursuing the same goal but now with massively better odds
- If you can’t solve the biggest problem, then you can always pivot into doing something else
Intro
- Host: Mike Maples (@m2jr)
Greatness Requires Risk
- Don’t let the fear of failure constrain your ambitions
- Any breakthrough worth pursuing has a high chance of failure
- By definition, greatness requires the willingness to risk failure
- Think in bets, express your level of confidence in percentages instead of absolutes
- You don’t achieve your dreams by playing it safe, you achieve it by taking intelligent risks
- The fear of failure is a powerful force that can hold you back from your true potential
- Risk is real but fear is a choice
- Taking risks for things you find truly meaningful likely has better odds than you think
- It’s important to evaluate the payoff of the risks that you take
The Advantages of Taking Huge Risks
- Taking bigger risks is a competitive advantage such most people avoid big risks, thus there will be less competition
- Since there’s a high chance a risky idea will fail, on the chance that it does succeed, the payoff will be massive
- Even if your idea fails, if you take a risk no one else has taken, you will learn things that no one else has learned
Tackle The Biggest Problem First
- Take on the biggest risk first, if you succeed, you’ll generate massive value because you’re pursuing the same goal but now with massively better odds
- If you can’t solve the biggest problem, then you can always pivot into doing something else
- Over 80% of the company’s Mike investment in pivoted once or more during their lifetime
- Odeo pivoted to Twitter, Chegg pivoted to textbooks, JustinTV pivoted to Twitch, and so on
- Over 80% of the company’s Mike investment in pivoted once or more during their lifetime
- If you can’t solve the biggest problem, then you can always pivot into doing something else
