Yes, I know it’s not Monday but I’m just coming off 10 days on the road so a little slack please? I just wanted to talk a little today about the risk-reward ratio. Ever wonder what keeps some people going, pushing even when the path becomes more difficult? Yeah? Me, too. But I’m starting to understand a bit better. See, I think they have the ability to take the long haul approach; to delay the instant gratification our society seems to revolve around and understand that solid things take time to build.

Many of you know my story but for those who don’t, I am the daughter of two breast cancer survivors. In 2003, I was diagnosed with my own breast disease. I made the difficult decision to have a preventive mastectomy and when I told my bosses at CBS, I was fired. I don’t think they fired me because of that but nevertheless, the timing was brutal. For a long time I drifted, felt lost and battled depression.

Fast forward to today, seven years have passed since I came up with the idea for the book and blog and things are on the upswing. More and more, TV shows are booking me (I just taped The Doctors for a 3rd time) and I’m going to spend the rest of this year into early next, taping a fun show for another network. Woot! But it’s easily been the hardest thing I’ve ever done. The best way I can describe it is that it feels like working without a net, which brings me to the risk-reward ratio concept.

Let’s use Las Vegas as an example. You know those people screaming because they won big? The reason they won big is because they BET big, i.e worked without a net and took big risks, at least part of the time. They were not playing the minimum bet with scared money. They were going for it, loading up the machine. They played the odds, knowing that if they kept at it long enough, it was going to pay off.

This is not an indictment against or an endorsement for gambling, rather it’s about how you have to play the game of life if you want to win big. That means going out on a limb, doing the thing you’re not quite ready for, taking chances, not being afraid to fail and somehow crawling into bed at night and finding the energy the next day to do it all over again.

Because I kept going (and will continue) I fully expect to see something like that Paramount Pictures image again in my life and soon. But more than that, I have the knowledge that my success and failure are things I am in control over.

I guess what I want to leave you with is this: nothing stays the same forever, not good times, not bad times and anything value takes a while to build. Don’t give up just because the concrete of the foundation is not drying fast enough for your liking.

Go on now, make it happen!

Oh and here are a few pictures from my trip…