Since taking a risk can potentially result in incredible gains or immense losses, thinking about putting yourself on the line can be an overwhelming experience. While the thought of taking a risk can be terrifying, living in fear of doing so can cause you to miss out on several significant opportunities in life. With the following tips, you can begin combating your fear of taking risks.

1. Trust Your Vision

If you find yourself feeling stuck, the problem may be that you lack faith in your end goal. If you feel your objective is not within your reach, ask yourself why you think it won’t work and try to challenge those kinds of limiting thoughts. Exploring your thought patterns can help you replenish your motivation and feel more connected to your end goal.

2. Understand the Differences Between Risks

There are both small and big risks, and it is important to understand the two before you start the process of taking either. Smaller risks are those with an appropriate method you can use to determine your chance of success. Other risks include a couple of unrecognized variables, which makes them harder to evaluate completely. Some risks have no measurable variables and are impossible to evaluate altogether. Before deciding to go out on a limb, study these types of risks and use them as a tool to assist you in evaluating the potential of your situation.

3. Start With Small Goals

Start out small and create some moderate short-term goals you would like tackle first. After you succeed in taking small risks, you can work your way up to larger goals.

The best way to strike a balance in the beginning is to be sure a portion of your small goals scare you while another set offers a sense of comfort. This way, you can gradually build your risk-taking confidence over time and set up the foundation of ongoing progress.

4. Understand the Advantages

Though it is anything but easy to take a risk, know that fear of doing so can limit your chances of finding success and happiness. When you don’t challenge your fears, you give into anxiety about something that may never happen. Worrying about a potential consequence before it occurs is not worth the time or the stress, so do your best to combat negative thought patterns associated with fear-related anxiety.

5. Reject Perfection

Striving to achieve perfection can be detrimental to your success. In fact, concentrating on being perfect can hinder your ability to take chances at all. Instead of focusing on perfection, focus on the actions you take to conquer your fears. While you will inevitably have setbacks and failures, you can make the choice to learn from them and move forward instead of pursuing the implausible notion of perfection.

6. Prepare for all Outcomes

Though you can hope for a certain result when taking a risk, be prepared for any possible outcome. Be sure to have a plan in place that empowers you to move forward toward achievement in case you fall short.

Additional Resources:
https://www.realsimple.com/work-life/life-strategies/inspiration-motivation/risk-taking
https://www.themuse.com/advice/quick-tips-better-taking-risks
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/careers/professional-development/2018/03/14/how-to-get-better-at-taking-risks/111105478/
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/tips-on-risk-taking-that-can-serve-you-well-as-an-entrepreneur_us_5a4d2e66e4b0df0de8b06ee5
https://content.wisestep.com/how-to-get-over-fear-of-taking-risks-tips-to-just-do-it/