A while back, a reader of my column, Robert Harvey, Jr. commented about my insistence that you must "fail a lot to win."  He said that his ski racing coach used to tell him that when it comes to competitive skiing, "If you're not a willin' to wreck, your not a gonna win".

His coach was dead on and I loved the quote.  We need to be willing not just to fail a little, but to wreck altogether if we are going to achieve anything.

Big Chances = Big Gains

There are very few big opportunities that don't involve a great deal of risk.  If they were safe bets everyone would already be there (and probably is.)  If you're not willing to push further and harder than the gal racing next to you, you're going to lose.

You will Wreck

And let's face it - you will wreck.  You're probably going to wreck big, and it's probably going to hurt like hell.  You'll live, though.  You'll get back up and get on the slopes again.  But if you never push yourself that hard, you will certainly lose every single time.

I wreck all the time.  I have had far more bad ideas than good ones, but I always swung for the fences, which meant the home runs far outweighed the downside of when I struck out.  You only need one home run, by the way!

Win Big or Wreck Big

You're probably thinking about your next big idea.  You may even be hesitating about diving in, thinking that this new idea could lead to total disaster (and it might.)  That's OK.  The only fear you should have is not pushing yourself.  The gal that's going to cross the finish line first is the person willing to wreck the most.