Risks. Rewards. (#SoG159)

Guess what did I do at 8 AM today?
Yes, like a million other young people, I saw the Avengers: Endgame. And no, unlike all the young people, I did not understand the head or the tail of it. But it must be good, going by the reactions of people in the cinema hall. Apparently, the movie is a culmination of 11 years of build up. If it was, it was disappointing. But then, I am not the right TG. Do see my tweets.
Anyhow.
Letter of the day.
Which could be the last that you get from me, till about the 10th of May.

#SoG159 - Rewards and Risks.
Since I was a child, I've been told risk and rewards are directly proportional. Higher the risks, greater the rewards. And so on and so forth.

You know that this equation is one of the most fundamental ones and has applications in disciplines as diverse as schools, grades, sports, videogames, dating, money, life, career and all that. And we are given zillion examples of this simple equation at each step in our life. So much so that its got ingrained in your memory. Its become a reflex. You know, taking greater risks, hoping to get greater rewards.

To be honest, this is perfectly ok. I mean it makes logical sense that greater risk you are willing to take, you put larger things at stake and thus you must expect higher returns.

There are two ways to look at this. I can talk about what do we put at stake when we take larger risks. And second, what do we stand to gain from larger risks. What is that additional that we can get? What is the delta?

I'll talk about the second one.

So, the prompt came from AA, when after the last meeting of my MasterMind group, he brought up this idea that said that you should take greater risks only if there are additional rewards to be achieved. And by definition, I think he meant that if you can't expect to get additional rewards, do not increase the amount of risk you take!

Let that sink in. I'll repeat it for you.
If you cant expect higher returns, do not take that additional risk.

AA gave an example of rash driving. He said that by driving rash, you are increasing the risk manifold but the reward at the end of it does not go up.

I got thinking.
What are some places where I've taken higher risks and yet the returns are sort of same?
I know.
The house I live in.
I pay a fortune for this pigeon hole. And I took the decision of moving here because I wanted to be close to a few friends. I knew I was taking a higher risk of staying away from the city centre and limiting my contact with the world at large. I hoped that additional return would be the peace of mind that I'd get from staying close to a few friends. But then my conversations and contacts with my friends are limited to just about one or two hours in a quarter. And while I did not get the extra facetime, I ended up losing out on opportunities that a wild cannon like me needs to say alive! And while I was thinking about this, I could think of at least 4 large, distinct and long-term decisions where I've taken large risks and yet there is a limited upside. I wish I could talk about those. Too personal. Maybe someday, once I am a tad more comfortable :)

Until then, brings me to the lesson for you?
What are those additional risks that you've taken that do not have commensurate returns?
Can you undo those?
Think about it!

Oh, assuming you will watch Avengers, do think of risk and rewards as you see it. And if you've seen it already, do tell me what you thought of all the risks the Avengers had to take :)

Thank you for your time!
@saurabh
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TAGS: Risk, Reward, Personal.

STREAK: 2

WORK WITH ME!
I am looking for someone to work with me. I can't afford to pay a lot but I can promise that if you are willing to work hard, I WILL DO WHATEVER IT TAKES TO TAKE YOU CLOSER TO YOUR #LIFEGOAL. I mean it. If you are interested, read this and lemme know if you are in.

#SoG159 - EndGame!

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