Sport has always been a part of my life. Early efforts at tetherball and tennis taught me coordination, while basketball and track in middle school and high school boosted my confidence and showed me how to cooperate with others.

In college, the desire for new challenges led me to join the novice rowing team, a move that required us to push beyond pain in a mystical fury of power, mental focus, and collaboration. I could have joined the basketball team, but that was known territory. To become someone new I needed new experiences.

Trying different sports brings new ways to move and train and demands that I risk something in the effort: public defeat and personal injury most often. But, I also learned the value and fun of discipline and focus in the face of pressure and potential loss. I learned later on through practicing yoga and meditation that pursuing new physical skills allows me access to beginner’s mind a state that keeps my mind open for enjoyment of new experiences.

As I deal with the pressures of entrepreneurship, I think about how I naturally reframe risk as adventure while my beginner’s mind feeds curiosity. It keeps me moving forward and trying new things. Every job I’ve ever left allowed other doors to open and new paths to emerge. Every country I’ve ever visited introduced me to other ways of communicating and seeing. Every person I’ve ever dated taught me how to become a better person.

Sports showed me the fun and discipline of starting with one foot in front of another. Entrepreneurship honed my joy for running towards new destinations.

No risk, no adventure.