We get comfortable with what we know and with what is familiar to us. This is good, we need consistency and order and comfort around us. A home base to return to and rest. A place to cultivate and tend. But life is not for cultivating and resting alone. In my opinion Life is an adventure, and home should be treated like fort, a base of sorts, where we plan and provision and rest up for the next foray into the unknown, for the next adventure. We must balance the need for stability and safety with the need for exploration and risk, and reward. Balance is the key, too much focus on safety is stultifying, restraining, restrictive and boring (read soul-crushing), while too much focus on taking risks and seeking novelty can put us in perilous danger, leave us without resources, or at the mercy of unfriendly forces.
I think a good approach is to keep one foot in the world of what we know and put the other foot out there where we are learning and growing and trying new things, and learning new ways of doing things. This is my the approach regarding a new business venture. There are services I have provided successfully as an employee of a large corporation. This is my foot in the known. I am comfortable with providing these services and have developed experience and expertise. But, now I wish to put my other foot into the unknown and deliver my services to multiple corporations in a variety of situations. I have not done that before. That is unknown territory for me. It is an adventure that requires specific goals and planning provision and execution, sort of like a backpacking trip but actually closer to an expedition to the top of a large mountain. The risk lies mostly in switching boats midstream, as I see it. How to go from one to the other without falling into the dangerous river? Probably have to run both boats simultaneously for a while I think. The solution is maintaining two boats I suppose, not easy. Ah, mixed metaphors , love it – am I on a mountain or in a boat? Anyway . . .
Like a mountain climbing expedition, competence in preparation and capacity for taking risks coupled low levels of neuroticism and anxiety are needed for success. Once we embark on an adventure traits like conscientiousness, endurance, openness, flexibility, and the ability to pay attention and respond (think on your feet) are the key drivers. So, I think I have a good idea of what is required. In the vernacular – think, get yourself together, don’t be lazy, don’t be a spaz, and don’t freak out man!
Even with everything in place success is not guaranteed, that is why it’s an adventure! People are wired differently and have different capacities and needs, and definitions of what one foot in the known and one foot in the unknown looks like. This is why selecting others to join you on the adventure is key, getting the right people on the bus and in the right seats as Jim Collins says.
Then there is chance and good fortune, these are mysterious and beyond our control. However, they are like fish. You can’t catch one unless you put your pole in the water. I believe that my 365 Commitment can help me with with all of the above. Just writing this blog this morning has helped me organize my thoughts and clarify my situation. The optimum position is straddling the known and the unknown, with one foot consciously in each place, or perhaps alternating with a runners stride moving forward toward the goal and the reward.
Ben Wagner 127
Member The 365 Commitment
