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Risks are important. But how do you decide which ones are worth taking and when to be more calculative.
Risks are at the end just that... risks.. with a substancial probability of failure. Mostly everyone likes to believe they take risks in their own lives.. but we all have a degree of what we consider risks.. 'calculative risks' and a degree of intuition. Like i could take risks in careers and lifestyles, but not physical risks.
What process do you use to figure when to follow your heart and when to follow your brain and how to balance the two..
Dylan Juhasz
Imagine a car seat belt.. or a bike helmet strap.
In order to change its length around you, you need to push one side and pull the other until firm.
When to take a risk, is psychologically similar... lets call it a .. 1............25............50............75..........100 scale..
And we say, the two factors are input and output... then it would be the level that they meet in the center,
I could make a decision based on input being at 25.. and output in at 75... All in all, if both start out the outer, each person has their x and y axis...Something amazing!
David Tucker
carole lyc
Lionel Leigo
Also the Darwin awards are full of people who perhaps neglected to weigh up the risk vs reward and just got too emotionally attached to the reward outcome, we are seeing more and more of this with the break down of the family structure and other things becoming more important to people than friends and family members health and safety such as this planking act/idea.
There is another side to this which encompasses absolutely everything and that is;
If you image your life as a timeline presented before you, perhaps its about 80 years long, and it includes all of the big events and small events of your life and experiences, growing up, first love, friends, partners, family, your kids, all of it, we take calculated risks each day and its the outcome or rewards of these calculated risks which enable us to continue life, without the risk there is only monotonous living.
If you asked any decent teenage boy to conduct a risk assessment on asking a girl out for the very first time, the risks would be virtually unacceptable for him, but thats just as he see's it, ask him when he has been successful several times to conduct the same risk assessment, and its completely different, all of the risks are very acceptable.
Colleen Steen 500+
Sarthak Pranit 500+
Jason Lewis
Prachi Gangwani
What will I regret more? Taking the risk but losing in the end, or never knowing what might be if I take the risk?
The answer is mostly the former and hence I end up taking risks. It does not always work, but it's worth it. Every failure has a lesson. Where would I draw the line? When the risk is untimely death, or harming someone else.
Nicolas Haguet
Very good question to ask itself.
I think a person who live a full and beautiful life answer "i take the risk" the most part of the time.
You can't be happy or evolve without taking risks
James Walker 30+
I like the thrust of what you're saying, but to be pedantic, i think you've reversed the literal meaning of Risks and Uncertainty.
It's true that we all meander through our everyday lives with habitual behaviour, but that unthinking routine is unthought abut, and unqualified, ie: it has a lot of uncertainties in it. We don't know WHAT will happen or WHAT question to even ask, or how BIG the event will be. That's an "Uncertainty"
A "Risk" is when we know WHAT the question is, ie: will is rain today, which horse will win the race, but not the MAGNITUDE or DIRECTION of the event.
So, a Risk is a good thing. It's calibrated and it's conscious. Dealing with Uncertainty is difficult. You could say, that it enhances your life to change Uncertainty into Risk, and encourage yourself to take Risks because they are known and calibrated. Agree with Gordon's ideas here, that don't sleepwalk through life, but a conscious life is about trying to parse Uncertainty from Risk, and focusing on taking measured Risk.
Gordon Springate
Uncertainties are something we can measure, in my view. People are challenged by them because usually they do not understand how broad the uncertainties can actually be. But risks, in my view translate to probabilities of occurrence. So therefore I believe uncertainty and probabilities are distinctly different. Resource industries (e.g., mining) generally prove this out.
I do understand when many here use the term gut feeling or intuition, and I ascribe that to each individual being able to process their life experiences and knowledge very quickly. The mind does enter into this!. A few here have mentioned similar comments.
In general, I think that people who “take a risk” (meaning there is a chance that a positive outcome may not occur) do not regret the outcome, whether up or down. The value of the positive outcome outweighs the chance that the negative outcome will occur. And people who are forward thinking will be like Ecaterina Sanalatii here, they learn from the negative outcomes!
I like Lindsay Bowker’s comments on “thinking” (my take on her words). People do not like change, and so it is difficult for them to want to accept new information that may cause then to have to change their paradigm! However, I acknowledge that everyone’s perception is their reality!
I must say that disagree with those who use the term “Risk Management”. There is no such thing. There are probabilities of outcomes, and the decision one makes based on their understanding of those probabilities decides whether the value of the positive outcome is worth the probability that a negative outcome may occur. One cannot manage risk, the probabilities are what they are!
Very interesting topic!
James Walker 30+
An Uncertainty is a bigger problem... because you don't know what you don't know.
Risk is a good thing, and the more (calibrated) Risk we have in our lives the better. We should seek out Risk.
Uncertainty is a really bad thing, and we need to convert Uncertainty into Risk.
Ecaterina Sanalatii 10+
I think of my failures as a gift - by learning from failure, one can improve what one does and transcend current failure into future success.
Salim Solaiman 50+
One can think of different options of decision than rate them on scale of 1 to 10 (low to high or vice versa) than put rating (on the basis of experience, trend or even gut feel etc) to each option to find out one which one has got lowest risk involved.
Brahim Elouafi
those who venture accumulate more learning than those who don't.take the example of an immigrant child who is urged to learn a second language, this little kid is more likely to pick up the language than an adult whose ego is a filter that hampers language learning.
Justin Chong
Puneet Rakheja 50+
i have realized that what one calls risk is a very personal definition. Its the idea of stepping outside your own comfort zone. And we all, hopefully do this in our own little and big ways. The bigger the risk, the more one tends to lose in the bargain. While we all like to celebrate the vistories after the risk, we must also acknowledge the courage it takes to fail.
Taking this further.. how do you guys deal with the failures of these risks? Yes i know its all about growth, but sure there is always some remorse too right? or maybe not.. would love to hears some personal experiences of yours..
Thanks again for a stimulating conversation..
Quanxiang Loo
I've been thinking of backpacking alone to countries like Thailand and even Brazil. Is it safe? I'm not sure. But the lure of adventure is difficult to resist.
Alma Lopez-Johnston
Backpacking alone requires common sense..
Armin Saage
- as a former risk-calucator in the health - insurance I could daily see how young men take more risks in driving than young women. But did they not both want to reach a place in time?
- you can observe in many places, that risk - taking in order "not to loose pride" seens a often times done between fighting young man.
- flying to other countries to bomb "enemies" could be another risk taken.
But what are the real individual, political reasons to take risks?
Very often - afterwords - we find that "only this time" risk-taking was not a good decision .... :-)
Heidi Wall
The risk taker acknowledges our frailty and is free to be outrageous within it.
Mr Kebabsoup
On the other hand, sometimes, you don't really control yourself anymore, panick attack? Euphoria? Anger? Pride? and you take big risks without really giving a good thought. That's the moment you should start to think it's not such a good idea.
Anyway, I think it's also important to be reminded that we are rarely alone. Our choices can have consequences for others as well. (Family, friends especially) If you want to take some big risks, I think it's wise to share and talk, at least with the people who will also be directly involved by the risks you want to take.
Peter Roddis
Peter
activesafety.org
Lindsay Newland Bowker 50+
Melody Austin
Basically our decision comes down to personal beliefs is what is good. That decides most risk that we take and how we look back on them after the consequences have already surfaced.
George Spilkov
Biological systems are also a subject of risk related studies ( for example the Fight-Flight behaviour).
Lindsay Newland Bowker 50+
Stephen Booth
I tend to apply the same principles (although possibly not a rigourously) in my personal life as I do in my professional life. How likely is this risk to occur? How big an impact will it have if it does occur? What can I do to prevent it occuring or at least reduce the probability? If it does occur what can I do to reduce/mitigate the impact? What is the impact of not doing the thing that leads to the risk sop avoid the risk entirely?
For example crossing the road means risking being run and and injured or killed (high impact) and in a city that is quite likely. Most of the time I cannot avoid the need to cross the road (I have to go to work, go to the shops &c else I'll be unemployed and starve) so I must take the risk (cannot avoid). I could walk around in a helmet and body armour to protect me from an impact and cushion any blows or falls but that would be expensive and may lead to mockery. I could look both ways when I cross the road, use designated pedestrian crossings in the way they are designed to be used and cross in places where I have a clear view of the road and drivers have a clear view of me so we can avoid each other. This reduces the risk of crossing the road to an acceptable level.
Another example, snow boarding is a sport that carries with it the risk of being injured or dieing by hitting a rock at great speed. The probability if this is very high and research has shown that whilst body armour will reduce the severity of the impact somewhat it's not by much. I am not compelled to snowborard and don't liek it so i avoid the risk and do not participate.
Stephen
Lindsay Newland Bowker 50+