On Risk

Let me tell you something about risk:

• It’s NOT something that you plan to include in your life.
• It’s NOT something that you pursue in the hopes of finding great rewards at the end of the road.
• It is something you try to avoid. If you cannot avoid it, try to minimize it as soon as possible. If that’s not possible, get the hell out of there!

You cannot control risk, but you can prepare yourself so that the effects on you are minimized. Life, after all, is more about avoiding or reducing risks:

• You keep yourself clean to avoid the risk of illness
• You educate yourself to avoid the risk of unemployment or being taken advantage of
• In business, you do an appropriate amount of market research to avoid bad investments (and yes, businessmen who say they are risk takers are being ignorant)
• You take in up to 8 glasses of water a day to avoid the risk of dehydration

Don’t believe for a second that the amount of risk is always directly proportional to the reward. Most of the time, it isn’t (think about this: do you think it’s more rewarding to bungee jump with an umbrella instead of a bungee cord??). So don’t make decisions in life based exclusively on the amount of risk involved, you’ll just end up setting yourself up for a lot of frustrations if you do.

UPDATE (2011 Oct 31): I feel that some parts of this entry sound too much as if I’m saying avoid all risk no matter what. That was not my intention. The gist of what I’m trying to say is this: find something you truly believe in (e.g. creating an amazing product, starting a movement, founding a non-profit organization) and, after evaluating the risks involved (to you, your idea, your family), set out to achieve it while reducing the risks involved as much as possible.