Risk Taking is an Important Mental Skill Coaches Forget to Teach
Risk taking is a concept many people misunderstand. By and large, most people automatically assume that taking risks is a negative behavior. However, elite coaches and athletes know better. If you ask any elite level coach or athlete what it takes to break out, their answer will almost always include the ability to take calculated risk.
This is the nuance that coaches forget to teach. There is a big difference between taking a spontaneous risk and taking a calculated risk. Moreover, this difference is what makes risk taking such an important mental skill for coaches to teach.
To bridge the gap between a spontaneous risk and a calculated risk one must start with self-awareness. Specifically, self-awareness around knowing your strengths and having a game-plan that takes advantage of those strengths. Unquestionably, all risks require exiting the comfort zone. However, if you decide to exit your comfort zone without self-awareness, you will limit your ability to learn from that experience.
Ultimately, the ability to learn and make improvements because of that learning is what makes risk taking beneficial. Yes, taking a spontaneous risk that pays-off in the short-term may help in that moment. But if that pay-off is not repeatable because everything done was random and unexplainable then there will be no advantage in the long-term.
On the other hand, a calculated risk predicated on self-awareness assist with strengthening the strategic mindset one needs for elite success. Coaches would be wise to teach this connection. As it’s both choosing the right risks and using the strategic mindset that helps one go from good to great.