Action without risk mitigation is carelessness, but risk mitigation without action is procrastination.
All action is inherently risky, but not all risk is necessary.
Our goal should be to preemptively mitigate unnecessary risks to the best of our ability so that our actions have the best possible chances of success.
No matter how much we have researched, tested, and prepared, however, we will never really be able to account for and mitigate all potential risks.
Risk mitigation is not the same as risk avoidance.
There is no way to accomplish anything worthwhile while also avoiding risk altogether.
If we try to mitigate risk to the point of avoiding it, we are no longer preparing.
We are now procrastinating.
At some point, we have to decide that we have done enough and that the remaining or unforeseen risks are worth facing, addressing, and adapting to while trying to achieve our goal.
Holistic Budo: As it is in budo, so too it is in life. As it is in life, so too it is in budo.
Robert Van Valkenburgh is co-founder of Taikyoku Mind & Body and Kogen Dojo where he teaches Taikyoku Budo and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
All photos by Robert Van Valkenburgh unless otherwise noted.
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