Twenty years ago we hired USA men’s gymnastics team captain Peter Vidmar as a motivational guest speaker for a few of our events. It was only six years prior when Peter had led his team to America's first team gold medal victory over the defending world champions, the People's Republic of China. He went on to win the silver medal in the individual all-around competition as the first American male to have ever won an Olympic All-Around medal. And with a perfect score of 10, he captured the gold medal on the pommel horse.

At a particular event, Peter presented his trademark concept of “Risk, Originality and Virtuosity” (ROV) through an interactive demonstration with the audience that struck such a strong cord with me, I still remember it today. First, he asked someone in the audience to come to the stage who has a two-to-five year old child, without explaining the importance of that specific detail. Peter then asked the volunteer and the audience to picture a 4” wide, wood balance beam that gymnasts use in competitions. With that in mind, he asked the audience member if they would walk across this 4” board if it lay by itself on the stage. The obvious answer was, “Yes, of course.” Peter nodded and agreed. What is the risk of doing this task? What is the motivation? None. But then he asked the audience member if would walk across the board if it was suspended over the Grand Canyon. “Absolutely not!” was the response. There was too much risk and no reason to walk across. Peter agreed.

“But what if,” Peter continued, “I was dangling your three year old child at the other end of the board over the cavernous Grand Canyon. Would you walk across the board now?” The answer was instant. “Absolutely, yes! And you better not be there when I get there!” Peter smiled. So what changed here? The risk is exactly the same as before but the motivation changed drastically.

So ask yourself, what are things in your life that you feel are too risky because the motivation is lacking? Take those things and ask yourself a second question: Can I change the motivation so that the risk is worth pursuing? When I find myself hesitating because of my fear of failing, which is usually the risk I’m battling, I stop, take a step back and think. If I look at failure as a lesson learned, my motivation becomes clear. Learning from my mistake is quite valuable. With this idea in mind, taking risks are much easier to pursue. Have you taken a risk that was successful? Have you taken one that wasn’t? Tell me about them. Check out Peter’s web page at http://www.petervidmar.com for more information on ROV.