Everyone that knows me knows I live the risk/rewards philosophy. I’ve always been willing to take risk in my business and personal life if I thought the reward would be worth it. I’ve been lucky enough to know many successful people and they all have a few things in common.

1. They believe in hard work

2. They are early risers and work long hours

3. they understand that you must take risks to get rewarded

4. They keep their priorities straight

This week I decided to take another risk and opportunity to improve my knowledge and experience. I decided to sell a very successful website Ridgepoker.com. If you know me, you know that this site is my baby and it was hard to part with it. I know that this change will allow me to archive my overall goals and improve the forum community. Now, I know many people that think “why change a good thing”? That is a great question, and it’s a question usually asked by people who have spent years being content with “good enough”. That is a dangerous and destructive way of thinking and not the mindset of a successful person.

In business and life you must take calculated risks to get where you want to be. You goals should be to constantly improve your position in life. You won’t get there by hoping someone hands you what you want. You must find a way to take it. One of my favorite quotes is: “The harder I work, the luckier I get”

I challenge everyone reading this to take inventory of your life and business and ask the hard questions. I’m not talking about how much money you have. I’m talking about your quality of life and getting what YOU want out of life. We all know miserable people with plenty of money. Money doesn’t make happiness. Am I happy about where I’m at in life? Can should i be doing more? What will it take? What is my reward?

Once you take stock, you will know if you are where you want to be. If you’re there, congrats, you deserve it because you worked hard. If not, it’s time to do something about it.