Learning to Identify, Choose, and Live with Acceptable Risk. No risk, pay the cost. Know risk, reap the rewards. In our risk-avoidance culture, we place a high premium on safety. We ensure our vacations. We check crash tests on cars. We extend the warranties on our appliances. But by insulating ourselves from the unknown, the risks of life, we miss the great adventure of living our lives to their full potential. Ben Carson spent his childhood as an at-risk child on the streets of Detroit, and today he takes daily risks in performing complex surgeries on the brain and the spinal cord. Now, offering inspiring personal examples, Dr. Carson invites us to embrace risk in our own lives. From a man whose life dramatically portrays the connection between great risks and greater successes, here are insights that will help you dispel your fear of risk so you can dream big, aim high, move with confidence, and reap rewards you’ve never imagined.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, first published in 1989, is a business and self-help book written by Stephen R. Covey.[1] Covey presents an approach to being effective in attaining goals by aligning oneself to what he calls “true north” principles based on a character ethic that he presents as universal and timeless.

Covey defines effectiveness as the balance of obtaining desirable results with caring for that which produces those results. He illustrates this by referring to the fable of the goose that laid the golden eggs. He further claims that effectiveness can be expressed in terms of the P/PC ratio, where P refers to getting desired results and PC is caring for that which produces the results.

Covey’s best-known book has sold more than 25 million copies worldwide since its first publication.[2] The audio version became the first non-fiction audiobook in U.S. publishing history to sell more than one million copies.[3] Covey argues against what he calls the personality ethic, which he sees as prevalent in many modern self-help books. He promotes what he labels the character ethic: aligning one’s values with so-called universal and timeless principles. In doing this, Covey distinguishes principles and values. He sees principles as external natural laws, while values remain internal and subjective. Our values govern our behavior, while principles ultimately determine the consequences. Covey presents his teachings in a series of habits, manifesting as a progression from dependence through independence to interdependence.

“Born without a silver spoon, nurtured without a golden pot”, Ben Carson rose from his tough life to one of amazing accomplishment and international renown. He learned that he had potential, he learned how to unleash it and he did. Putting the principles in this book to work will help you create a colorful end and also enhance your safe landing at your desired colorful end.