How risky are your life decisions?

I've always thought of myself as fairly risk averse, however recently I've found my self making some decisions that seem to go against that hypothesis. Also note, I'm not talking about risks in terms of risky behavior, or speculating/gambling. I'm more so talking about things like hard changes of direction in career or changing from a tried and tested high ROI path to one that causes others to scratch their heads.

Interested in any takes, anecdotes, or otherwise.

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1) I moved countries a lot, both before and during the pandemic. Have lived and worked in many countries by now. Every move entails risk of failure, but my career has somehow developed. No longer in IB FO though.

2) Dating is another one... I used to date fairly dangerous girls. Not criminals.. but the degenerate kind... drinkers, druggies, smokers, promiscuous, etc. also had ex's with mental health challenges before. This has improved lately, but still. I have no problems dating girls who have personal challenges. But i would think twice in the future before dating someone with a significant mental health burden like severe BPD, hallucinations, schizophrenia, or worse. That is something I can't handle.

3) Used to drive illegal street races in defunct commercial areas, old airports, and such. For money.

4) I used to work for Deutsche Bank. Career survived, somehow.

 

cyberpunk Could you tell us how have you managed to work in PE in different countries? Or are you working in a different industry?

 

You pick an international PE group. Not a domestic one. There are PE firms that have, say, offices in the UK and the US, just as an example. But not all of my jobs were in finance, you are right. Switched industries multiple times and ended up in PE/VC for now.

Or you use your network to find a role elsewhere.

There are so many jobs currently, it would be easier to switch now.

 

Cycling outdoors in traffic is pretty risky.

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

Didn't take any risks until recently because I am a little pussy and now im suffering because of it. Judging by my mental state right now I will be making some pretty retarded (or "risky") decisions in the very near future career wise. 

Im also thinking about getting a full sleeve done on my right arm. Kind of having a mid life crises at the moment.

I also think that my brain is pretty fried due to excessive social media usage and maybe also porn, but how the fuck am I supposed to know whether its normal or not when I jerked it to porn regularly the past 10 years? Fuck knows.

Definitely gotta do one of those new age dopamine detox things next month (or tomorrow) for 30 days straight man. My brain is fucked. I have an attention span of a goldfish its not even funny. 

I'm from Europe 
 
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I gave up a shit job with a guaranteed salary for 100% commission while I was swimming in student loan and credit card debt (best decision ever)

I moved to a city I'd never visited to start my career

I was hospitalized twice for an issue I'd had my whole life but didn't come to a head until my 20s, told my doctor to fuck off because I thought his diagnosis was wrong. ended up fixing the issue with the help of a better doc and some personal reflection/trial & error and am the healthiest I've ever been in my life. in the moment, this was scary because if I got hospitalized again for the same issue, there was a chance I wouldn't have survived

here's the thing, think about downside in all things. in my first two examples, the downside was known. I'd fail, but I'd likely survive. worst case scenario I destroy my credit, go to b-school and pick up the pieces. in the second, so what if I fail? what's the worst that could happen? I break my lease, move back home or in with my now wife who lived elsewhere and try to start again? big whoop. scary to be sure, but not fatal. the last one was definitely risky, but I wasn't getting better and I believed that my former doc was not going to improve my position either way so my downside was identical regardless of making a change or not, hence I made the change

the theme is this - what's your maximum downside with things like career decisions? early in your life more often than not, it's a survivable failure, so unless you've got ego, you can take risks, provided you frame it properly. the risks should also be skewed positively, like in my career change, the upside was unlimited and significantly bigger than the downside, that's a trade I'll take all day long. if it was risk of failure versus getting a 5% raise, that's not a good trade, get it?

 

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