The voice on the phone said, “As of June 13, 2005, the balance due on your mortgage is zero dollars and zero cents. If you would like to repeat this message, press 4 on your telephone keypad.” I responded by pressing “4” several more times! Why? Because it was music to my ears.
July 4th is the day Americans celebrate their independence from a monarchy and Bill of Rights’ freedoms. It’s the date fifty-six men risked life and possessions to sign a Declaration of Independence from a monarchy.
June 13th is the Pryor Family Independence Day from a mortgage. A day we plan to celebrate for many years to come. Risking hard-earned money in investments and making monthly financial sacrifices to pay down the principal have resulted in the freedom of now owning a debt-free home.
Webster’s Dictionary defines freedom and independence as “the quality or state of being exempt or released usually from something burdensome”. Debt was my burden but now I’m free.
Do you have an unwanted burden? What independence do you desire? What risks are you willing to take for that freedom? To achieve freedom… any kind of freedom… there must be a willingness to risk what you have for that which you desire. People and organizations with undefined desires and aversion to risk face a future of decline, despair and discontent.
Freedom begins with a revolution of heart and mind. President John Adams wrote, “What do we mean by the American Revolution? Do we mean the American war? The Revolution was affected before the war commenced. The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people”. (1) If your heart and mind are averse to risk, the following poem by Leo Buscaglia will free up provoking thoughts to the contrary.
Risking Freedom
To laugh is to risk appearing the fool.
To weep is to risk being called sentimental.
To reach out to another is to risk involvement.
To expose feelings is to risk showing your true self.
To place your ideas and your dreams
before them is to risk being called naive.
To love is to risk not being loved in return.
To live is to risk dying.
To hope is to risk despair, and to try is to risk failure.
But risks must be taken,
because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.
The person who risks nothing,
does nothing, has nothing,
is nothing and becomes nothing.
He may avoid suffering and sorrow,
but he simply cannot learn
and feel and change and grow and love and live.
Chained by his certitudes,
he is a slave,
he’s forfeited his freedom
Only the person who risks is truly free.
Here’s a list of calculated risk that result in freedom:
- Risk known frustration for unknown elation.Salesmen are often frustrated with the travel and time commitment required to make commissions and increase corporate profits. What if they had a tool that identified the customers which consume 80% of their time yet result in 20% or less of company profit? To increase commissions and profits, risk raising prices on the frustrating 80%. You may be elated to learn that they are buying because of your products or processes, not your price. The tool of which I refer is called Activity Based Management. To learn more about this sales tool and how to implement, go to ICMS.net.
- Risk the current for the future.Good to Great author Jim Collins says, “If you look at some of the great decisions in business history, the executives had the discipline to manage for the quarter-century, not the quarter.”(2) I may never enjoy the shade from a tree I plant today, but someone surely will. If my family had only been concerned about the near term, we would not have achieved our long term goal of being debt free. Is there something you should risk now to reap later?
- Risk being illogical. Being logical is to risk your family and business. Success is not logical. Logical is conforming to practices, processes and policies of the majority of people or organizations in your industry who, upon investigation, fall far short of being successful. If you are tired of being logical and wish to become debt free, read The ABC’s of Financial Success. If you desire an illogical plan to improve your business, read The Principles.
- Risk boarding the first bus.Don’t stand around waiting for the best bus. During a recent Industrial Distribution web cast, Steve Epner said “While it is logical to wait for a better technology, waiting gets you no where. It’s better to board a moving bus and make progress towards your objective. If a better bus comes along, get off and change to something better.” Consultant Bruce Merrifield defines a bus-changing course correction as “a good mistake.”
- Risk saying “I don’t know”. An admission of ignorance has less risk than bluffing or guessing. As humorist Will Rogers sagely observed, “It ain’t the things we don’t know that hurt us. It’s the things we know…that ain’t so.”Admitting to others that you don’t have all the answers frees those who do an opportunity to contribute for the benefit of all.
- Risk the scorn of unbelievers.What are you afraid of more… being called a believer by agnostics and atheists, or being called an unbeliever by God? Oswald Chambers says, “It is better to enter into life maimed and lovely in God’s sight than to be lovely in man’s sight and lame in God’s.” (3) The Apostle Paul said, “Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” (4)
Freedom provides us a chance to become better. Betterment results from taking calculated risks. Unlike his wise, financially independent and frugal friend John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, author of The Declaration of Independence, died with debts exceeding $100,000. According to historian David McCullough, “Jefferson apparently went to his grave believing the state lottery established in his behalf would resolve his financial crisis and provide for his family, but the lottery proved unsuccessful”. (5)
Even wise men take unnecessary risks to gain freedom. Taking calculated risks, based on sound principles and practices, greatly improves the chance of taking hold of the freedom we desire. Unlike Thomas Jefferson, don’t depend on a lottery to improve your family or business situation. Instead, spend some quiet time this coming weekend to ponder and answer a question: “What should I risk to gain greater freedom?”
My answer to that question a few years ago was “I choose to take a calculated risk today to obtain a debt-free future.” My risk paid off on June 13th. Your answer to the question may lead you or your organization to do the most important thing you’ve done in a long, long time. If you don’t answer the question, you’re risking freedom, both current and future.
Footnote:
During the revolution, seven thousand men and women willingly died for freedom. I am thankful for those patriots. Today I’m also thankful for the patriotic men and women willingly serving in America’s armed forces. Their risks in 2005 protect the freedoms won in 1781.
(1) John Adams letter to H. Niles, February 13, 1818 (2) Fortune magazine, June 27, 2005 (3) My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers, Barbour Publishing, 1987 (4) 2 Corinthians 3:17 (5) John Adams, David McCullough, Simon & Shuster, 2001
