Fortune sides with him who dares.

Fortune sides with him who dares. – Virgil

Bold and daring, or reckless? Sometimes hindsight tells you with greater accuracy.

What does that mean?
This is definitely not a quote for the timid. This is about taking charge of your future, it’s about making things happen, it’s about getting things done.

Think about what happens if you sit there and wait for something to happen. What usually happens is someone else gets moving and gets the thing you were waiting for. Is that what you want in your life? I know it’s not what I want to have happen in mine.

This quote says that fortune, or Lady Luck, favors the bold. It’s kind of like the saying “you miss 100% of the shots you never take.” It’s hard for luck to go your way when you are busy sitting on the sidelines waiting for something nice to happen.

Why are bold ideas important?  
If you made a list of all the bold ideas and a list of all those which were less than bold, you might find that there are far fewer bold ideas. But, I believe that if you looked at both lists, you’d see that the ideas on the bold list has most of the ideas that have moved humanity forward (and sometimes backwards, depending on your view of progress).

Similarly, I believe if you made lists of all the bold actions and deeds in the history of humanity, you would find the length of the lists favoring the less than bold. But you would also find, I believe, that the most significant events in the history of humankind would fall on the list of the bold actions.

What about your life? If you were to make a “highlights reel” with the best ideas and actions so far, would they be mostly from your list of the bold, or would it be from the list of the not so bold? Boldness is what moves individuals, groups, and the entirety of humanity. Whether it’s in the correct direction or not, that’s not boldness’ concern. Boldness is thrust, ethics is what gives it direction.

Where can I apply this in my life?
This quote reminded me of an incident back when I was at college. I was going to ask a girl to a dance, and I went to her dorm to walk her back to where I lived. We got to talking, and before I got a chance to ask her, we got to where I was staying.

It turns out someone else there had planned to ask her to the dance as well, and as soon as he saw her, he asked here right then and there. He was bold and I was not. While it stung for a while, it worked out quite well, as they have subsequently married and raised a family together.

In that case, fortune most definitely favored the bold. Where in your live has fortune favored the bold (either to your benefit or your detriment, depending on who was bold, and how well things turned out)? How is your track record?

As you have probably noticed, sometimes being bold results in a big problems. Hopefully you haven’t had as many unpleasant results as you have had pleasant results. However, if that’s not the case, perhaps you have mistaken recklessness for boldness?

If more than a few of your bold events started with either “hold my beer” or “hey, watch this” you may have a problem, right? That’s right, even with boldness, there is a balance between too much and too little. Even more interesting is the “proper” level of boldness will vary with each situation, and across time.

Consider a sport or game. You are behind, and the end is near. How bold should you be? If this is the absolute last chance, perhaps you put it all on the line. It might be the proper time for the half court shot, or the Hail Mary pass, right?

Where else can you be bold in your life? Where in your life are you presently a little meek, or less bold than you could be? Are there places in your life where you have gone past bold and straight into reckless? Take a little time and reflect on how you live your life, and where you are or are not bold.

I don’t believe we all need to be as bold as we possibly can, every moment of every day, in every aspect of our lives. But neither do I believe we should be completely shy and unassuming in every single aspect of our lives, all the time. I believe we should find a balance.

The trick is determining what that balance is. At least in my life, even something as trivial as how much sleep I got the prior night can impact my willingness to be bold. You may have a more stable life, but I point it out to remind you that there are lots of reasons for your level of boldness to change over time.

Your level of comfort in a task will also help you decide how bold you wish to be. I have more than a few miles on my motorcycle, and have an extensive background in motorcycle training, so what I call ‘playing in traffic’ others might call reckless. It’s all relative.

Only you can decide what level of boldness is right for you. And life will provide feedback from time to time. Pay attention to it, and adjust your course, and hopefully you will find Fortune favoring you from time to time.

From: Twitter, @philo_quotes
confirmed at : http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/v/virgil380771.html
Photo by bugeaters