Risk and Reward

Of course, leave it to the MBA to relate a business concept to life. But, for better or for worse, it makes sense. In the financial world, there is a relationship between risk and reward. That is, those investments that earn greater returns (rewards) are those that involve greater risks. So, the investments that are considered risk-free or low-risk have lower expected returns.

That same concept applies to life. We can go through life always being careful and not taking risks. But, everything in life involves risk. Just like in the financial world, we need to be willing to take risks in order to really live.

Those people who are successful seem to be those who aren't afraid of taking risks and aren't afraid of failure. Take a look at the following quote to illustrate this point:

At the age of seven, a young boy and his family were forced out of their home,
and the boy was forced to go to work. When the boy was nine, his mother
passed
away. He had a job as a store clerk, but lost it when he was twenty.
The young
man wanted to go to law school, but had no education. He went
into debt
when he was twenty-three, to become a partner in a small store. It
was only
three years later that his business partner died, and left him with
a debt that
took years for him to repay.
He dated a girl for four
years and, at the
age of twenty-eight, decided to ask her to marry him. She
turned him down.
Thirty-seven years into his life, he was elected to
Congress... on his THIRD
try. He then failed to be re-elected. This
man's son died when he was only
four years old. At age forty-five, he ran
for the Senate...and failed to be
elected. He persisted at politics and ran
for the vice-presidency at age
forty-seven, and again lost. Finally, at the
age of fifty-one, this man was
elected President of the United States. His
name was Abraham Lincoln.

This makes me think- fear has stopped me in many cases and I have been reluctant to do certain things out of fear of failure or rejection. If Lincoln can take one rejection after another on the road to success, maybe I should be more willing to also.

God brings us more than just good... we should learn to accept it all as it comes and realize it is His plan.

That's it for tonight... more later.

The little stuff

Trying to keep up with this whole blog thing... I think I need to write down my thoughts as I go so I remember them when I go to post on here.

Anyways, here's my thought for the day: the little stuff does matter.

It seems like we have the inclination to think little things aren't that big a deal. For example, it's OK to tell a white lie or it's OK to be a little dishonest on tax returns, but not OK to be really dishonest or to really lie. I really don't think it's this simple. Proverbs 4 talks about not stepping on the path of a wicked man. Even one step is enough to lose your footing and fall on a slippery slope. The New Testament also talks about how we need to be faithful with the little things before we are entrusted with more. It really boils down to a heart issue, not whether or not we stick to some list of what's OK and what isn't.

This principle is seen all around us in today's business world. I don't think people walked into Enron or WorldCom one day after years of honest service and decided to defraud investors. It was probably more like a gradual relaxing of their standards. What started as a "little thing", like taking home company pens or paper or lying to make themselves look better turned into a major scandal that brought down a major company.

So my goal is to practice this- being faithful and practicing integrity even over what seems like minor details not to check off on a list but so that I may have a clear conscience.

That's it for now; more later.