GRE Issue Essay 21

“Success in any realm of life comes more often from taking chances or risks than from careful and cautious planning.”

“Look before you leap”. We all have heard this every time we have set out to plan something new. What stops people from taking hasty decisions? Undeniably, it is the fear of failure that prevents people from taking decisions without proper planning. This is because one cannot refute the fact that one can achieve success only by careful and cautious planning. Taking chances and risks are more likely to bring in failure and huge losses. Though it does seem that successful people may have taken huge risks, but the percentage of people having succeeded in life as a result of taking risks is far less as that compared to those people who have achieved success in life as a result of well-planned ventures.

The steel barons and the shipping magnates who are among the world’s richest men would have started their businesses from a scratch. They might have taken risks while establishing their businesses at a time when they had nothing to lose. There are examples of so many wealthy businessmen who walked into the city of their dreams with a couple of dollars in their pockets and later rose to positions where they became the leading businessmen of the same city. They could have afforded to take risks when they were just starting their careers, as they were not risking any significant amount of capital. As you start rising in life and you start expanding your business, the feasibility of taking a risk reduces considerably as there is a lot at stake. Even if you take a risk, it has to be carefully planned and calculated so as to allow you to fall back to your starting point without any major financial losses. All of us know the story of some businessman or the other who suffered a major setback because of a risk that misfired. Though the cushion for withstanding losses is quite high as you succeed in life, nevertheless taking risks can never be termed as a sure shot way to fame and success as the chances of a risk letting you down at the most crucial moment are quite high.

If your aim is to succeed in your exams, then what would be the best way to achieve this aim? Would it be better to take a risk by getting good study materials and postponing your studies until the last month before the exams or to commence your studies well in time with whatever materials you have in hand? If you opt for the first option, then what will be your result in the exam if you fall sick in the month just before the exam or if the exam is held before the scheduled date due to some reason? Would you like to invest money in buying property before seeing it on ground or would you rather go around it thoroughly before committing your life’s savings on immovable property?

Your personal relations, job prospects, business enterprise and small day-to-day functioning contribute to your overall success in life. None of these can improve by taking risks. A well-planned move which has been arrived at after due deliberation and calculation of the after-effects can assure you success in all realms of life. There are cases where you may see people who have achieved success by taking a risk but you may never have even heard of the thousands of people who have got lost into oblivion due to the risks that they took which led to their failure in life. Therefore, it is always better to play safe, plan your life cautiously and actually “Look before you leap”, if you want to succeed in all realms of life.