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

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

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

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
  - 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