Only the Result Matters

_{photo by Yeshi Kangrang}

I was reading an article online earlier today that had to do with taking risk, then I started a conversation with a friend of mine on the same topic. I had told him about the many times I have lost good amount of money due to some very stupid risks that I've taken in the past.

I had laughed at the look on his face when I told him some of the amounts I had lost and as usual, he had started to talk about taking calculated risks, about how I wouldn't have lost all of that money if I had done just that.

And although all what he said was true, I had told him how much money I would have made if those risks had paid off and had asked if he still would have felt the same way if everything had worked out for me?

You see, I've come to realize that people tend to see certain decisions as stupid only when things doesn't go your way, when the result doesn't favour you in the end. But the moment everything goes as plan, they see you as a smart guy who is a good risk taker.

A good example was something that happened some few year ago when I was still a dedicated sport gambler. I remember my parents had sent me some money for my upkeep and to buy some books in school.

So I decided to do something that was stupid until it paid off. I had taken a good sum of that money and gambled with it. At the end of the day, I ended up winning big and only then was I able to tell my elder brother about the risk that I took and funny enough, instead of him to reprimand me for doing something so stupid, he was more focused on the outcome of that stupidity, the money I had won, the result.

So yeah, although it is not good to take risks that could cause a lot of damage to you if things doesn't go your way,
if you decide to do it and people scold you for it probably because it didn't work out like you had hoped it would, just have it at the back of your mind that they're not angry because of the risk you took, they're angry because of the outcome of that risk.

Because if things had gone your way, that frown on their faces would have turned upside down into a smile.