Greater risk, greater futures. The greater the risk, the better.
Something I haven’t really heard people talk or write about is the philosophy of risk. What is risk, what is the significance of risk, and what are practical ways we can leverage risk in our every day lives in order to become more?
Avoid death and possible permanent disfigurement
The practical thing I learned from the Nassim Taleb is that one should never take any risks in life which might cause possible death, or potential disfigurement.
For example, never in any circumstances text while driving. This can lead to your death, and also to the death of your child, your wife, or even cause you to kill somebody else in another car, their children, etc.
When I am in taxi cars, Uber’s, or have a private driver, something which I was on the fence about was when they would text while driving. I didn’t want to ruffle any feathers, so I would just stay quiet.
But now that I got a wife and a kid, and if they’re in the same car as me, I have a zero tolerance policy for people texting while driving. One of the proudest moments is when we were in Cambodia and we had a private driver drive us to Angkor Wat Siem Reap, and half the time he was texting while driving. I then mustered up the courage to ask/command him to not do that anymore. Why? Even if there was a one percent chance of potential death in a car accident, I need to muster the courage to defend my family.
Other risks I would never take include skydiving, bungee jumping, etc.
Double safety
The most critical thing I learned from Boy Scouts was the notion of safety first. This is very true.
For example, I think the intelligent thing is to expect yourself to fail, or potentially hurt yourself or others, and therefore, the safe thing to do is create a double safety barrier, in order to prevent bad things from happening.
For example, when I am handling a very very sharp knife in the kitchen, I commend everybody to leave the room. Why? I do not want to accidentally stab or cut anybody.
Or, when you were attempting very very heavy squats at the gym, both have safety pins in the correct position and ask somebody to spot you. Why? When you’re handling a very heavy weight, let us say six plates on each side, or 605 pounds, your chance of not being strong enough to either move the weight, or ReRack it is very high. And therefore, having a spotter will give you 1000 times more security and safety. Once again, when it comes to powerlifting style one repetition maximum attempts, when should always expect to fail, and have a contingency plan.