What You Lose When You Try Not To                                                                 More Articles
How the fear of loss can affect your safety

Have you ever been late for some important meeting or occasion? What happened and where was your focus in that time? My guess is that you were focused on ‘not being late’ and getting to your event on time regardless of all other factors, perhaps regardless of the safety of you and people around you. Do you take risks that you wouldn’t normally take?

Your attention is directed by what you think is important at the time.

We all value different things and will spend our time, money and energy on what is most important to us. In doing research for my program on safety, I’ve looked into the phenomenon of ‘loss aversion’. It seems humans all share a natural desire to avoid loss. When the potential for loss becomes apparent this can take our focus, and distract us from what is really important.

For example, when being late, we might not want to lose face, or miss out on the beginning of something and so our focus is on avoiding that loss of time.
When a stock starts falling, we might hold on to it because we don’t want to lose money, even though the evidence shows that it’s not going back up. But people will hold on to avoid loss, and in doing some experience a much bigger loss.

It is irrational and yet happens all the time in various situations. It’s the basis of the book called Sway, The Irrestistible Pull of Irrational Behaviour by Ori & Rom Brafman.

Many serious disasters have occurred (NASA Challenger explosion, BP Gulf spill) because key personnel did not want to lose any more time and money - ‘let’s do it now’ despite warnings of danger. These disasters end up costing a lot more than time and money. Just by changing focus and thinking, these disasters could have been averted.

What warning signs are you missing?

Perhaps next time you find yourself, or others, doing something more risky than usual, ask the question - what is really important at this time. Is it more important to arrive on time, or to arrive safely? Is it more important to do it right the first time, or get it done as quickly as possible? Is it more important to have a break now rather than push yourself to exhaustion or stress?

Here are some keys to help keep you safe:
1. Step back and think about the big picture when making important decisions.
2. Ask yourself “What is really important here?”
3. Listen to people cautioning you. Appreciate that they have a different view that can help you get out of your tunnel vision to what you think is right.
4. Act with purposeful intent to help stop you being reactive.

Often decisions are made in a moment, and by being aware of these moments, we can start to change our thinking. We can start to create new habits. It all starts with re-thinking what is most important to you.

Most of all, I want you to value yourself and your life. What can you do differently to get the most of it today and the rest of a long, healthy life.

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by Annette Lynch - 8 Aug 2011

About the author:

Annette Lynch (formerly Huygens-Tholen) is a Success coach, NLP Practitioner, Author and Speaker/Educator helping individuals to change their lives through strengthening Personal Leadership.  Achieving a dream to be an Olympian in 2000, Annette then learnt to overcome her greatest challenge - life after sport.   By studying and applying the mindset skills and attitudes of sport into the game of life, Annette has transformed not only her life, but thousands of others in UK, USA, Aus and NZ through coaching and training.
Her book, "Success beyond Sport" teaches the 8 Winning Points for leading oneself to success - emotionally and financially.   For more information on Annette and how to create success in your life visit www.annetteffect.com  

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