A Risk-Taker’s Job is to Convert Potential to Kinetic Energy

Fellow Riskologist,

I remember my favorite teacher in 7th grade trying to explain a little about physics and how energy works.

She told us, “When you pull the bands back on slingshot, you’ve created a lot of potential energy. But to turn that energy into something useful, you have to let go of the bands; you have to turn the potential energy into kinetic energy.”

I remember spending several weeks after that lesson looking at everything in my life as potential and kinetic energy:

• The books resting on the bookshelf were in a state of potential energy until I picked them up and started reading them (or they fell off the shelf).
• The neighbor revving his car obnoxiously was full of potential I wished would turn into kinetic energy by driving away.
• The lunch I just ate would be converted from potential to kinetic energy as I made the long trudge to class on a full stomach.

I’m not the smartest Poindexter on Earth when it comes to science and math (I still secretly do math with my fingers). The examples above do not do a great job of illustrating how potential and kinetic energy work in terms of real science.

But my understanding of it as a 7th grader has turned out to be a great way to look at life and taking great risks.

In order to do something remarkable, you must convert your thoughts and your preparation (potential energy) in to actions that produce some sort of measurable result (kinetic energy). If it’s in your head, it doesn’t count! Once it’s out in the world, it can be judged on its merits.

The difficulty is finding the courage to make the one tiny step that takes you from one to the other.

It takes no courage to read a book, but it sometimes takes a lot to put what you’ve learned into action. It takes little effort or courage to pull the bands back on the slingshot. And it takes none to watch the pellet fly away. But the moment between pulling the bands back and watching the pellet strike its target—the conversion from potential to kinetic—takes all the courage you have.

For that one moment, you are confronted with everything that could go wrong—all of your fears, uncertainties and doubts about the future right in your face as you contemplate whether or not to let go.

But the smart Riskologist knows the only way to achieve what he wants is to release the bands and let the pellet fly. He knows the books he’s read are useless until he takes the ideas learned from them and creates something tangible.

Some people spend their lives building nothing but potential. They create so much they could practically reverse the spin of the Earth if they released it. But they never do, and the world continues just as it always has.

And some never build enough. They are forever taking action before the right moment and reaping sub-par results for their (lack of) effort.

But the smart Riskologist builds just the right amount of potential and converts it to action at just the right moment. He not only pulls the bands on the slingshot all the way back, he releases as soon as the target is in sight.

When it comes to potential and kinetic energy in the life of a risk-taker, one is no better than the other—both are required to take the optimal risk with the right odds of success. And neither are handed to you; you’ll work for both.

As the saying goes, “Strike while the iron is hot!” But the iron does not heat itself. That’s your job, too.