Episode 879 {Rebroadcast} Episode 399 Security, Safety, and Risk Taking
[00:00:00] Scott Maderer: [00:00:00] Thanks for joining me on episode 879 of the inspired stewardship podcast, a special rebroadcast of episode three 99 of the podcast.
[00:00:12] Wayne Titus: [00:00:12] I'm Wayne Titus author of the entrepreneur's guide to financial wellbeing. I encourage you to be inspired, to become a better steward through financial wisdom. By listening to this, the inspired stewardship podcast with my friend Scott Maderer.
[00:00:28]Scott Maderer: [00:00:28] so I need you to identify in your life, where are you currently not taking a risk because it feels comfortable where you're at and that comfort gives you a sense of safety and security, even though it isn't real.
[00:00:42]Welcome and thank you for joining us on the inspired stewardship podcasts. If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent and your treasures for your true calling and the inspired stewardship [00:01:00] podcast. We'll learn to invest in yourself, invest in others and develop your influence.
[00:01:05] So that you can impact the work
[00:01:09]in today's episode about investing in yourself through stewarding your talent. I talk with you about why, what often feels safe and secure. Really isn't how risk taking can actually create more safety and security and the difference between taking a risk. And being risky. You've heard me talk about developing your talent.
[00:01:31] And one of the best ways to do that is through books. But if you're like most people today, it's hard to find the time to read. And that's why today's podcast is brought to you by audible. Go to inspired stewardship.com/audible to sign up and you can get a 30 day free trial. There's over 180,000 titles to choose from.
[00:01:55] And you can pick one and listen your way to developing your talents [00:02:00] via audible. That's inspired stewardship.com/audible to get your free trial and listen to great books the same way you're listening to this podcast. Thank you about the interview from Monday with Taylor. One of the things that we were talking about is how he left the job than a lot of people would consider a safe and secure job to launch out with a startup.
[00:02:27] And I've talked before on the podcast, how. How back in 2017, I left my own corporate job to start my own business. I've been doing that since July of 17. My, my two year anniversary is actually in just a couple of days from when this podcast comes out. And this idea, I think comes up a lot for people. When we're thinking about living out our passions, living out our calling, living out what God wants us to do.
[00:02:58] The number of clients I have, [00:03:00] where they have something that they really have a dream. They really want to do something massive, but they feel trapped and held back. And they're afraid they have this sense of fear that if they launch out on their own, if they leave the safe and secure place that they have the job and everything else, that this is a risky thing, that this is going to create a huge amount of risk in their life.
[00:03:28] And the truth is that sometimes that's true. There is such a thing as going out and doing something foolish and risking it all. I've talked before about how only in the movies is it wise to go all in on a poker hand. And if you're that poker hand is really your life, that it's really never wise to go all in.
[00:03:52] If you can avoid it, if there's any other choice. And there's almost always another choice, but at the same time, the truth is [00:04:00] that often what feels safe and secure really isn't safe and secure. It's Miller, weirdly familiar. It's merely comfortable. It's merely something that we know often what feels like risk is really the idea of the unknown, the idea that you're taking the next step.
[00:04:21] And you're not a hundred percent sure. If there's from ground underneath that step, it's a lack of knowing and having clarity around what is coming next. And there's a difference between being not a hundred percent sure and really being at risk. There's a difference between being uncomfortable and being unsafe.
[00:04:47] And yet too often, we confuse that we think discomfort, lack of familiarity makes something unsafe and it could, but it doesn't necessarily. So if you're in a safe [00:05:00] corporate job and that company goes through a downturn and downsizes, it's not so safe, insecurity more if you're in a safe corporate job.
[00:05:11] And that company turns out to be Enron and goes belly up. That safety and that security is false. The truth is that the only thing that's truly dependable and safe and secure is our faith in God. Everything else has some level of risk. It's funny. I have some clients who are work for the government.
[00:05:37] And they always talk about how great it is to have a gov government job, because you can always count on the safety and the security of the government paycheck. And if you remember not too long ago, there was a government shutdown and there were a lot of governors, government workers that were struggling because they had to figure out how to get through that downturn, how to get through a period [00:06:00] where that safe and secure paycheck wasn't coming.
[00:06:05] And it's not just around Paychex either. If you're single and you want to be married, dating feels unsafe, feels insecure. If you're in a relationship and you need to share something and be vulnerable about a dream are about a drive that you have that feels unsafe and unsure sometimes. But the truth is.
[00:06:32] Risk taking can actually create more safety and security being willing to do the thing that's uncomfortable that other people aren't necessarily willing to do makes you stand out. If you're in that safe and secure corporate job, and you're doing the same job that 52 other people are doing, you become somewhat potentially [00:07:00] expendable.
[00:07:01] But if you do something to make your own way of doing that job unique and different, not by not doing the job, not by not achieving the goals, but if you find ways to stand out and create and make yourself into a linchpin who is unique and has a set of skills. That allow you to be flexible. If you cross train with other jobs, if you find ways to be a leader within the group and not just do the job, but actually improve what's going on in the business, then people will begin to notice that.
[00:07:38] And all of a sudden you through your risk-taking have actually created more safety and security. Same thing goes for launching out maybe and starting your own business, even if you're just doing it on the side. Having more than one stream of income creates more safety and security, and that involves some risk taking [00:08:00] behavior, doing the weird thing and figuring out how to live without debt and pay off all your debts is weird.
[00:08:06] It's strange. There's a certain amount of risk-taking that you have to do because you're going to be looked at as different if you don't use a credit card, but it actually can create more safety. And security. See, throughout here, I've been talking about risk taking and the truth is that taking risk is not the same as being risky, not just because those are different parts of speech for the same word, but the truth is that taking a risk is about gathering information.
[00:08:39] It's about figuring out the options. It's about doing something that's a little bit uncomfortable, not because. It's going to turn out a hundred percent well, but because you've done everything you can to prepare, you've projected and you've prepared and you've laid the groundwork. So even if it goes [00:09:00] wrong, it's not going to be fatal.
[00:09:01] It's not going to be the end of the world. You're just conducting an experiment. I've talked before about how I like to frame things as an experiment, you're running an experiment to see how things go. And as you begin running that experiment, then that's taking a risk. Know being risky is when you jump out without preparing the ground, it's when you burn all the bridges behind you and just say, forget it.
[00:09:32] I don't care. I'm just going to quit my job and go live in the woods. I'm going to quit my job and launch this business. Even though I haven't actually prepared the ground before it, I haven't done the hard work of learning what I need to do. I haven't actually even ever done this before, and I have no knowledge of how to do it.
[00:09:51] And yes, I know I have a family and kids that depend on me, but it doesn't matter. I'm going to do it anyway. Cause that's my dream. That's being risky. [00:10:00] Risky is when you have a high chance of failure and or if you do fail, it's going to create a fatal situation. Something that you really can't recover from, to me, that includes things like borrowing large amounts of money to go start a business.
[00:10:17]You're saddling yourself. With an untenable situation where the odds of your failure go up and up, that's being risky. That's not just taking a risk. So I need you to identify in your life, where are you currently not taking a risk because it feels comfortable where you're at and that comfort gives you a sense of safety and security, even though it isn't real.
[00:10:43] And think about where in your life you're being risky and you're perhaps taking a risk that just isn't worth it. And then begin to run experiments in those places where you feel called to grow and take some [00:11:00] risk by being uncomfortable and growing today. Thanks for listening.
[00:11:06]thanks so much for listening to the inspired stewardship podcast as a subscriber and listener, we challenge you to not just sit back and passively listen, but act on what you've heard and find a way to live your calling. If you liked this episode on the stewardship of talent, you can go over to inspired stewardship.com/talent and sign up for our five week series on the stewardship of talent.
[00:11:37] Or if you're in the U S you can text four, four, two, two, two. Talent tips. That's talent tips to four four, two, two, two, and get those tips until next time. Invest your time, your talent and your treasures. Develop your influence and impact the world.