Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Taking Risks

We almost always tend to play safe and avoid taking risks in many situations. Thinking about what might happen if it doesn’t work out,if it fails. “Fear of failure” hampers you from performing certain tasks. This fear used to affect me a lot. I would be afraid even before making a speech before 10 people.

But I guess things have changed. At this point I have realized that fear and success are very much part of life. Accept them as they come, and try to learn from it.

In the first year, I tried my hand at robotics. Me, Badri and Anand made a wired bot car. Worked on similar lines with other friends and made one more bot somewhat similar. While competing for college festivals, realized that our’s wasn’t the fastest one and we dint have enough knowledge of that field. The aerodynamics, mechanical aspects, torque and all. Figured out that I had just failed. But doesn’t matter, atleast I tried. I had figured out what I am not good at.

Working for web-building was again just a chance. A risk if it had failed, but fortunately succeded there. Many people just don’t convey their feelings for a boy or a gal, just because they feel that friendship will be broken if he/she says no. But I believe that it’s worth taking a risk. What’s the point in not admitting the truth. Why not to portray ourself as someone who we really are. Who knows this risk might change your life.

Winning isn’t everything. It’s about giving your best. It’s about pushing your limits, meeting your targets, achieving your goals. In a cricket match when you are chasing a very high score, you have to take the risk and go for the big shots. Well we may argue that you may get out taking such risks and fail; but realize that it’s the only way you can succeed.

I heard of an Event called Google Whacking while at IIT techfest in FE. I thought whacking had something to do with Hacking and told myself, it’s not my cuppa tea. I would just be a laughstock FE who knows nothing alongwith BE’s geared up with stuff. But my friend insisted on us going. The event wasn’t at all about hacking. It was a simple events of playing with words and Google and we actually went through to the next round also. We had fun. And from then on, we have Google Whacking every semester in cllg. Had I not taken the risk, I would have missed out on the fun.

I liked this song words from westlife song ‘Flying without Wings’

You Gotto fight for every dream
‘Coz you never know
Which one you let go
Would have made you complete.

4 comments:

Pratiksha Mainkar said...

profit witout risk is livin witout bein born..i cmplty agree!d most imp lesons i hav lernt r thru failure..

pratap kaul said...

hmm again the great man shows everyone why he si so revered and respected all over the place...taking risks is important, but i think challenges would be the appropriate word, risk would be something where if you take the chance , you could lose everything and a challenge is one where there is nothing to lose, but everything to gain

Sanket said...

@Pratap..
Good thing you pointed.Challenge is more appropriate word.
But one thing i feel is different

When you have nothing to lose, you always go for the challenge. No big deal. But sometimes i feel it's worth taking a calculative risk to lose something when what you will gain is a big thing.

Reminds me of the Wright Brothers story. The first flight by humans. What they risked was their lifes, but what they gained is that their names are even famous today after 100 years. Maybe we are not risking so much as them, but we can risk a few things for the bigger picture.

anand said...

@sanket
cannot agree more with u man...just wud like to add one more thing:
...if u always opt for a safe life, u will never know what its like to win..

@pratap
i feel RISK is the appropriate word ....u cannot win big without the risk of loosing all ...