No. I didn’t learn to take huge, unwarranted risk. But as I was hanging 30 feet off the ground, I finally realized that at times, I have to take action when every part of my Certified Financial Planner body screams “NO!”. (If you are a real glutton for punishment, you can view the entire spectacle below.)

Ok. You saw the video. We both know I’m no trapeze artist. In fact, this was the first time I ever “graced” the big ring. But let me tell you how I got up there and how I came to “the big secret”.

I was relaxing peacefully on the beach while on vacation. A group of circus performers set up next to me and demonstrated their acrobatic skills. Soon, they invited the audience to participate. The 7-year old in me was dying to give it a try. The 52-year in me gave the 7-year old a time-out and continued sipping the chilled coca-cola in my hands.

Naturally, there were a lot of other people watching the performers. One little girl (no older than 5) was visibly conflicted. She wanted to climb up there and give it a try but she was afraid. I overheard the instructor tell her that it was normal to be afraid – bouncing around in the air is indeed a frightening proposition. But in reality, there was no danger involved. He showed her the nets and the harnesses. He explained that thousands of people had done it before and not one ever got hurt.

That’s all she needed. She swaggered up to the ladder – after throwing me a confident smirk. She let fly and did beautifully. I can’t tell you if it was that speech, her smirk or my unwillingness to be upstaged by a post-toddler, but for whatever reason, I was sold and gave it my best.

What has any of this got to do with you and your money? What’s the “big money secret”?

The secret is that sometimes you have to go against yourself.

Before I put one toe on that ladder, I understood that the very worst thing that could happen would be for me to fall into the net looking like a monkey in electric shock. Moreover, it would be a slow fall – the pros were all around me with harnesses and ropes. If it worked out well, I might find myself in a new career. Either way, I’d walk away with an experience I wouldn’t have otherwise.

Even though I understood all of this intellectually, I still froze as you can see in the first 4 or 5 seconds of the video.   What finally got me off of that platform? I acknowledged my fear but remembered that my intellect was in charge at that moment – not my heart.

If you need to take some financial action, expect fear but don’t  be paralyzed by it. Carefully consider the pros and cons. Once you make a decision based on all the facts, that’s it.  Don’t allow your heart to over-ride your head.  Anticipate and acknowledge your fear because its a natural human reaction.  Just don’t be overcome by the fear.

Make a decision, execute and don’t look back. Don’t wait for everything to “feel” right before you take a step off. I promise you, the perfect moment never comes.

Like this article? You will love getting my free brilliant financial updates! No spam, and I won't give your email address to any other person or company.That's a personal promise. Neal Frankle, Certified Financial Planner, Los Angeles, California

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