How to Bypass Risk and FED-EX Your Dreams to You

No risk means no reward. Actually, it means regret.

In 1965, Frederick Smith was an undergraduate at Yale University and had an idea for a business.

Smith wrote a term paper illustrating his idea. In his paper, he explained how companies could deliver items faster if they changed their shipping strategies. The idea was brilliant, innovative, and well ahead of its time.

His professor didn’t get it and gave him a C.

The Yale teacher didn’t see how it could possibly work.

Smith didn’t listen. After two tours in Vietnam with the Marine Corps, he implemented his idea. Smith bought a controlling interest in Arkansas Aviation Sales in 1971, and operations began in 1973.

Frederick Smith later named the company Federal Express or “FED-EX,” for short.

Had Smith listened to his professor (like so many do), he wouldn’t be worth the $5.6 billion he is today.

Let’s explore how taking risks pays off.

It’s All a Gamble

Here’s something to remember: Starting a business doesn’t mean all your problems and worries disappear overnight.

If anything, they increase. I’m speaking from personal experience.

Frederick Smith didn’t start FED-EX and instantly became a billionaire. No way.

Actually, he nearly went out of business.

At one point, Smith had to think outside the box to keep the company afloat. So, he applied for every business loan he could.

After every bank he went to denied his loan requests, he took the company’s last $5,000 to Las Vegas and won $27,000 gambling on Blackjack to pay the company’s $24,000 fuel bill. This decision ultimately saved his business.

The point here is not to go gambling, hoping to make money or save your business. That’s not what I’m saying.

The main idea here is to know you’re gambling already, whether you realize it or not. It’s not with money, currently. It’s with your time and opportunity.

You could take the risk of pursuing what you want and the life you desire. Or, you could play it “safe.”

How many people choose to play it safe in life? They don’t pursue their dreams or their ultimate calling. They often take “safer” career options like teaching or accounting.

What happens? They get fired for a younger, less expensive replacement.

Does that sound safe?

Billions of people illustrate how you can “play it safe” and still fail, so you might as well go for what you want anyway.

Money Is Where People Are the Most Risk-Averse

And, funny enough, this is exactly where the biggest payoff is: Investing your money.

We’ve all heard the saying, “You’ve gotta spend money to make money.”

Yet, while everyone has heard and knows that saying, very few do it.

If you want to make money in the stock market, you must face the risk. If you want new clients for your business, you need to advertise — more risk. If you want to learn new skills, you have to buy education. That’s risk!

The yearly tuition for Harvard is currently $57,261. That’s only for tuition and excludes books, room and board, and all the other bells and whistles. The grand total is $83,538.

Harvard can do their best to educate you, but if you don’t show up and smoke weed in your dorm all day, it won’t matter.

That’s a massive risk. However, if you apply yourself and give your all, you increase the likelihood of success.

Frederick Smith went to Yale, which gave him the idea for FED-EX. He also learned not to listen to others and to follow his gut. Both were risks, but both paid off.

You will never fulfill your potential if you don’t take risks. And you 100% won’t become successful if you want a risk-free life.

Living itself is a risk. And yet, you still get out of bed each day. Why?

If you expect life to be risk-free, thinking it’ll be a boulevard of unbroken green lights, just stay in bed.

Risk-Free Living Leads to One Place

Our brains are naturally negative.

They’ve evolved to identify risk as a possible threat to our survival.

However, when we listen to our fear and avoid risks, we know it. Once the fear dissipates, we feel it. We feel when we’re not giving our all or like we’re leaving our potential on the sidelines. We just feel off.

If we continue on this path, it will lead to depression and regret. I’m speaking from personal experience here.

I had the same three jobs for two years. My days were identical, and it sucked.

Not taking risks is boring. Knowing exactly what will happen day in and day out robs life of excitement. There are no deviances, surprises, rejections, or failures, so there’s no growth. It makes you numb to everything.

When I finally found courage and took the risk, I felt freedom.

Did I succeed right away? No, but I grew and progressed. This experience yielded pride and a sense of accomplishment, something I never felt working in my safe “comfort zone bubble.”

Taking risks leads to the best lessons.

Yes, even if you fail.

Sign up for that course, take that class, and go ask that girl out. Sure, it may not work out, but you’ll learn more from the “failure” than from not doing anything.

The pain from calculated risks can and will transform your life for the better. You’ll learn more, grow faster, and develop a courage you never knew existed if you stayed comfortable.

These are valuable lessons.

Lessons that you miss out on when you focus on a risk-free experience.

No Risk = No Reward

Imagine if Frederick Smith listened to his professor at Yale.

Do you think he’d be happy?

Do you think he’d feel fulfilled?

Do you think he’d be a billionaire?

Probably not.

Because he took the risk, he put himself in a position to reap the rewards–$5.6 billion in rewards, actually.

But here’s what you have to remember:

Taking a risk doesn’t guarantee success or the achievement of your goals. And taking no risk ensures your goals will never happen.

Remember, when Frederick Smith launched his business, money didn’t fall from the sky. In fact, it dwindled.

However, he persevered. He doubled down on risk and had to do so many, many times.

Smith had years of failure before he nearly bet the company away at a blackjack table. He was willing to risk it all to win. And in this scenario, he won it all.

Ask yourself this question:

Are you willing to bet it all?

Once again, I don’t mean going to Vegas and gambling like a desperate chump.

I mean, are you willing to bet on yourself and your work ethic? Are you willing to go 100% — all in–on you and your goals?

If you are, then you have a shot.

As long as you stick it out and outlast tough times and the competition, you increase the odds of getting the rewards.

Final Thoughts

Business is a risk.

There are no guarantees it’ll work. The numbers aren’t in your favor. 80% of businesses fail. That’s a staggering statistic with a litany of unknown risks involved.

But you have to ask yourself, what’s the alternative?

It’s succumbing to a life of mediocrity with the potential of wondering, “What if?”

If all you do is avoid risk, you’re volunteering for a life of regret down the road.

But if you’re ready to summon the courage to overcome your fear and face the risk, then you’ll have a bright future.

Yes, you’re going to fail, and you’ll fail a lot. But you’ll win in the end because it takes a lot to get back up after each failure.

And it’s not the millions of dollars that you’ll make that’ll make you happy. While that helps and feels amazing, it’s not the money that’ll bring you joy.

It’ll be you looking back on the fact that you faced the risk and went after your goals like a champion–like Frederick Smith did.

That’s a life to be proud of.

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