There are times when it’s important to go for it and not hold back. When you’re way better off playing to win rather than playing ‘not to lose’.
But a lot of people struggle to actually do this. They push things too far and end up going for broke instead.
Part of the problem is that we know holding back comes from fear. And so we look to do the opposite. But we get it wrong when we think that the ‘brave’ approach is to push too hard instead…
Going for broke is a symptom of fear just like playing it safe is. In this case, though, it’s the fear that your unadulterated natural instinct won’t be ‘special’ enough.
So you force things to try and reach a higher level.
Playing it safe is where fear leads you to artificially hold back. And going for broke is where fear leads you to artificially go too far.
So playing it safe and going for broke are NOT opposites! They’re two sides of the same coin.
Whereas going for it is what happens when you ignore the promptings of fear. When you let go and simply allow things to unfold naturally. Neither holding back, nor pushing forwards — it’s more about ‘not doing’ than doing.
Going for it is riding a bike down a steep hill without using the brakes. Going for broke is feeling you’ve got to pedal flat out the whole time as well.
Unless you understand this distinction then all your experiments with stepping beyond the boundaries of over-cautiousness will cause you to go for broke. Usually with catastrophic results.
The sad consequence is that most people retreat back to ‘safety’ and never leave there again. They miss out on a huge amount of potential that’s already inside them… That’s waiting to be unlocked if they could merely learn the right way to ‘go for it’.