Risk is the ratio of...

I miss those awesome leadership empowerment sessions where people used to gather in huge masses to witness the real stories of special individuals who had turned around life with their hardwork and dedication. They hadn't memorized the lessons from the many available self-help books. They had undergone the tough life scenarios that had taught them the real lessons of life. I still remember their examples from their own lives and the lessons learned from them. One such extraordinary personality had addressed the topic of risk required for success. Being an engineering student, his mathematical definition of risk had impressed me.

He defined risk as the ratio of fear of failure to belief to succeed. If the fear of failure in the task that we take up in hand is really high, then the risk felt is also really high. If we are unaware of the result and we don't have much belief to succeed in the endeavour, even then risk is high. On the other hand, if our belief to succeed is greater than the fear of failure in the challenge that we have taken up then automatically the denominator is greater than the numerator. As a result, the risk substantially reduces. Risk is just one of the those anxious and apprehensive mental states of mind. It is a clear cut result of the kind of feelings and emotions that we showcase towards our work. I do accept that the factors in the equation are subject to random uncertainties of life. They do influence the factor of risk as well. However, this equation gives us a measurable form of risk though the quantities on the RHS are not exactly measurable quanta.

Each individual will have to decide the amount of fear of failure and the amount of belief to succeed that he has in his heart and mind for the undertaken task. These will definitely change their values at different instants of time owing to various factors. How well can one manage their ratio constantly is all that will show the calibre of the person in working towards his vision or dream. Proper planning and a strong conviction towards achieving one's own goals with the ability to flexibly adjust and adapt oneself to the random unexpected scenarios and still move steadfast towards goals will always help to reduce the risk factor and increase the result factor.