DailyPost 1780
SUBSTANTIAL RISK
In a risk averse nation even talking of this topic may raise scorn. When is the first time somebody talked to you about risk? What is your understanding of risk and would you ever take it, given a choice. If the person cannot take it out of choice, then when risk befalls him, he would not be able to handle it. Unfortunately, that is the story of the most and also a large number who have decided to live a degraded life, because this element is missing out of their thought process. Our schools are the safe haven, where risk in never discussed, the game is how to get into one class after another, till the time you land in an office, is the beginning and end of education.
Whosoever might achieve any level of success or money or fame, it does not matter to them, as their lot have decided to be bystanders. A degraded life is better than risk taking is the message being sent all around the place. If you can’t take simple risks, how can you take substantial risks? Unfortunately, what delivers in life is substantial risk. ”Substantial risk means a strong possibility, as contrasted with a remote or significant possibility, that a certain result may occur or that certain circumstances may exist.” Jeff Bezos in one of the interviews said that most of the successful people, who broke the glass ceiling in every way, are the ones who have taken substantial risk in life.
Substantial risk also means to try for something which might be distant and unachievable compared to the simple and easily achievable ones. It means the capability to experiment with life, which slowly has been getting out of fashion. It also means to battle it all alone for your chosen dream, if things come to that. First and foremost it would just be the enterprise of finding out what you are passionate about and whether you want to take it up as a vocation. It seems most people would be perfect failures on this count itself. It means losing the battle substantially even before it has begun. The minds which abhor the very idea of having to facing slightest bit of inconvenience, what would there fate if they are faced with substantial risk.
All those who take substantial risks have a dream of substantial success, but can it turn out to be their nemesis? They are the ones who are made of a different spine. Life has a different meaning for them. They learn to navigate uncertainty and make the untrodden path their home. We have stories of the likes of Peter Theil and Elon Musk, who do it over and over again. Substantial risk takers have the capability to adapt and readapt in a very proactive manner, mostly to their own advantage. This is an approach which is something akin to, when preparation meets opportunity, it is luck. The struggle of the substantial risk takers is the preparation for a stupendous success.
IF MEDIOCRITY IS YOUR VISION OF LIFE, SUBSTANTIAL RISK FOR SURE, WILL BE YOUR NEMESIS.
Sanjay Sahay