In my last two blogs I shared with you how risk and motivation interact. I pointed out that research shows that the optimal level of risk, the level chosen by successful people, is a moderate level, in between a surety of success and a high probability of failure.

In today’s blog I will give you two strategies for how you can make sure you are acting like a successful person, by setting your level of risk at the optimal level. These strategies will answer the question of, “What does it mean to set our risk at a moderate level?”

The first way we set our risk at a moderate level is in our determination of our goals.  Once we have decided on our vision, that major change we want to make in our life, we will generally find there are numerous ways to manifest that vision, many ways to skin the cat.  As we choose our way, we will have many opportunities to pick goals that are of moderate risk.  As you choose your goals, therefore, make sure you take into account the level of risk in each goal.  Make it one of the considerations.  Don’t necessarily reject an otherwise perfect goal, a goal that will greatly enhance your manifestation as your vision, just because it is risky.  Just be intentional; be aware!

A second way we set our risk at a moderate level is by breaking down our goals into manageable tasks, by seeing each goal as a series of moderate risk tasks.  Then we write down those tasks in  list. A goal that appears to be risky, and is, therefore, amotivating, will, when broken down into its component tasks, be much less scary. This list of less threatening tasks gives us opportunities to succeed under conditions of moderate risk.

There is an old Spanish mariner’s saying, “Unless you leave the safety of the harbor, you will never reach the distant shore.”  You need to take risk, but don’t do it in a leaky boat, and don’t do it during a hurricane.

Pay attention to the level of risk in all your goals and tasks.

After my most recent blog on how the level of risk impacts self motivation, I received an email asking how researchers determined this relationship. I am not a researcher; I am a teacher. I read the literature, study research by others, read their conclusions, and draw some of my own conclusions. I then present this information, this knowledge, in a manner in which my learners can understand the information and can implement it in their lives.

For most of the information, the experiments are, I believe, of much less importance than the information that the experiment yielded. Consequently, I just teach the information. Sometimes, however, the experiment serves as a great example of the information, and thereby helps people better understand the information and how to implement it. The experiment on the relationship of motivation and risk is such an experiment. This is the reason I use it in my self motivation workshop.

The experiment is described by Richard DeCharms, in his book Enhancing Motivation.  The experiment involves a game I refer to as the ball in the box game. Each player is given eight balls. They are instructed they are to get the balls into a box which is set on the floor. They decide how far away they are to stand from the box for their final four throws.  That decision is based upon four practice throws, during which they can move closer to or further from the box. After the four practice throws, they must decide upon the spot. The final four balls that count are thrown only from that spot.

The experimenters found there were three options chosen:

1. Close enough to never miss
2. Far away as to make success unlikely
3. A middle distance making getting in the box a challenge, but possible.

Subsequent surveys with participants revealed that those who were the most successful in their lives were those in the third group.

People who make choice one will succeed, but what have they achieved? Nothing.  These people, research shows, fear failure.  Their fear of failure makes them lose a sense of accomplishment.  They fear failure so much they never take any risk

People who choose very far away are also afraid of the appearance of failure.  So they go so far away that even if they miss, they haven’t really “failed”, because they were trying the impossible, shooting for the moon.  By doing this they avoid responsibility when they fail.

The people in the third group, the ones who take reasoned risks, pick the middle ground, in between a sureness of success and a high probability of failure.

What successful people do is set the bar high enough that they have to work to achieve success. Once they do achieve success, they will set the bar a bit higher.

In my next blog I will share with you a couple of strategies for how you can make sure you are doing the behaviors of a successful person, and setting your level of risk at the optimal level.

Risk and self motivation are interrelated. My training is in education, specifically in designing instruction. When we design instruction, we have to be very careful with the level of difficulty. The more difficult any given piece of the instruction is, the greater the risk of failure for the student.

The more difficult it is, the more riskier it is perceived by the student. If the student perceives it is too difficult, the learner will not feel confident about his ability to be successful. This is important because, as the model for self motivation teaches us, if one lacks confidence in her ability to achieve a goal, she will not be motivated to go after it.

On the other hand, if a student feels that a task is too simple, successfully completing it will not make the student’s confidence grow. It won’t make her feel more competent, and better able to face the challenge of further, more difficult lessons.

The designer of instruction needs to walk the middle line, not make the instruction too easy, but not make it too difficult.

The optimal level of risk is in this middle range, a moderate degree of risk. It must be easy enough so it can be accomplished, otherwise you destroy feelings of self worth, but difficult enough so that success really means something, gives the learner a sense of accomplishment and makes her feel powerful.

So it is with all of life, not just in education. If you choose tasks that are too difficult for you, you are setting yourself up for failure. The failure will be occasioned not just because you probably won’t accomplish this difficult task, but also because you will not even be motivated to attempt it. You will have destroyed your self motivation by setting the risk level too high.

But if you constantly choose tasks and goals that are too easy for you, you are also setting yourself up for failure. You will accomplish them, but so what? You won’t have any sense of accomplishment that could have kept you going when the next goal or task is a bit more difficult.

What you should take from this information is to be conscious of the amount of risk you are taking as you take each step in pursuit of your dreams. Being conscious is how you get motivated and stay motivated so you make your dreams become real.

Make sure your tasks and goals are moderately risky, in that sweet place between too risky and not risky enough.