You’ve Got Nothing to Lose & Everything to Gain
by Jeff Cohen 

I'm presenting four scenarios:

1. Nothing to lose and nothing to gain
2. Everything to lose and everything to gain
3. Everything to lose and nothing to gain
4. Nothing to lose and everything to gain

If you are given a chance to pick one, which will it be? Just by merely looking at the four scenarios, you would obviously pick the fourth. But let’s take a closer look, a look inside all four scenarios by means of illustrations.

The first two scenarios are actually the same. This can be likened to a town where the living conditions of the people residing in it did not deteriorate over time; but neither did it progress. People may be moving about, literally speaking. But somehow, life has not changed nor improved. They are actually losing something that is not visible but real. And that thing is time. Time is being wasted. This kind of scenario or situation does not attract attention; there is nothing spectacular or exciting. What was there five or ten years ago still remains the same.  It makes one observing this town feel sleepy because it looks like a sleepy town with people moving about like zombies.

Let’s look at the third scenario, everything to lose and nothing to gain. Now, this looks more exciting, only it feels like falling into a pit. At least, there’s activity; but it is a depressing one. This can be likened to a financially poor person who suddenly got a windfall of cash through inheritance or through the lottery. There are countless stories about ordinary workers or employees who won in the lottery and got super rich. A few years later, they were back to where they used to be, financially speaking. Some of these people even wind up worse than they used to be, accumulating debts rather than wealth. Either they were blinded by the huge amounts of cash they came across with or they simply can’t manage their money well.

The fourth scenario looks interesting and inviting. There was once a person who was working as an ordinary employee. He set aside a portion of his salary as savings. He was saving, not for the rainy days but to use it for a business he intended to put up. In the meantime, he gathered not only savings, but also enough experience related to his planned business. Somewhere along the way, an obstacle occurred. He needed to send additional money to his family in the province to spend for a sick relative. He dug into his savings. But at the same time, he found an extra job to make extra money to fill in the hole he made on his savings. This kept his plan on schedule. Once the savings and experiences were enough, he left his job and started to put up his business. It was hard work at the start. Frustrations were always part of the daily activities related to his business. There were times he felt like giving up but somehow, a voice from within him told him “If you back out now, where will you go?” So he held on. Sometimes he felt like he can’t hold on any longer. It’s as if he was holding and hanging on the edge of a sword; but in spite of the pain, he still persisted. Then little by little, things began to change. His business blossomed. More and more people got to know him from previous customers because of his outstanding products and services. He was glad he made the right decision to hold on during those difficult moments. Occasionally, there were ups and downs, but the downs were not enough to discourage him from pursuing his goal.

This is an illustration of determination and perseverance to accomplish something in life, an abundant life. It is an illustration that if you don’t do something to achieve your goal, you end up in the same place you used to be. It’s an illustration of nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Posted: Dec 16, 2005