Throw your heart over the risk barrier for juicy gains

Friday marks the start of the weekend for most of us and running a Friday column gives me licence to be on the ‘keyboard-happy side of writing.’ I’m going to suggest these two traits.

I will admit they are rare; not taught in most schools and quite honestly they are not even actively encouraged if at all. I guess we shouldn’t bother wondering why they are shoved aside by majority.

I’m not sure about you but I am of the opinion that everyone wants something for nothing. Well I do too. If you do, give yourself a break, we can’t help it. It’s just wired in there somewhere.

But I ignore that feeling, sit down and open it up. Open the secret, I mean. Shall I share? Well, why not.

My secret goes around wearing dirty worn-out overalls. It carries around all sorts of things; books, tools, electronics, people, the clock, rules, regulations—I could go on.

It sure does look a lot like work. And, you know how it goes. If it looks like work, walks like work and carries work-like things around, it sure is work.

The real secret is not work itself because work needs to yield something— a service. It’s a lot about the commitment and risk we attach to our service—I did mention they were rare traits.

You want to solve real problems for people. That’s when your work becomes a service people will gladly pay for and at your asking price. Yours is to commit to serve others in a way that adds value to their lives. And the risk? That they may not appreciate it or even want it enough to pay for it.

How many problems and how many people would that be? Now that’s a question that completely flips things around. It is one of the most disempowering questions you can ask yourself.

It shines a bright spotlight on what you don’t have. It magnifies your need, it brings your fear of lack to the surface and paralyses you in the process. It imprisons you in fear—so that you don’t even remotely think of taking a risk.

Make a decision to kick out the fear. This is how it works; you get to choose – you know you can’t be everything to everyone so the risk is that not everyone will want, appreciate and pay for your service. Sometimes these are the first people you bounce off your ideas on.

They don’t need or want your idea even for free? It would be great if you had their support but if you don’t, that’s quite alright. They think you’re crazy for dreaming? That’s great too – it shows you have guts they don’t and they would rather be naysayers that stick their necks out.

Again, I did mention the rarity of these traits. Forge on. There are those who will not only want but desperately desire your service and will not only pay for it but handsomely so.

I want you to leverage your commitment to serve. While you do that, I would like you to stop thinking of the-so-called famous radio station—What’s In It For Me (WIIFM). Forget about that none-issue. Yes, it is a none-issue. Just get off your rear end and get your hands dirty. I mean that literally or metaphorically depending on the service you provide.

Trust me; this is the direction to go because it creates opportunities for you out of nothing (remember you go in risking not getting paid). Give first. Do that with the right thinking and there you have the true secret of attracting abundant reward. Real alchemy if you asked me.

When like most people your strategise to go “get” and proudly brand yourself a “go-getter”, it works against you... especially when you are selling yourself by working for the remuneration as opposed to being committed serving without expectation of reward.

The secret to making this work for you is to commit to making it work for you. Never mind if that sounds silly, but if you take a moment to look around, it will take you quite a while to find true commitment to service combined with a healthy risk appetite in people.

I am willing to bet that where you find these two rare traits, you will also find prosperity.

Now go; strike the universal balance between giving and getting in favour of the universe. I bet you’ll be surprised at what comes back to you and the speed at which it returns.

Ms Ruligirwa-Kamara is a certified coach & speaker on personal leadership alignment

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