Our life is all about managing risks to help us get closer to what we want and where we want to be:
When you set your morning alarm, you are reducing your risk of getting late to start your day.
When you carry a power bank everywhere you go, you are reducing the risk of your phone battery dying while you are outside.
When you call for an Uber ride, you are transferring your risk of getting stressed up by the terrible traffic & parking trouble to the Uber driver.
When you decide not to start a relationship with someone with violence issues, you are eliminating your risk of getting domestic abuse.
When you decide to take a 2-year unpaid leave to follow your spouse's job relocation, you are taking a higher risk of getting left behind in your career growth in order to grab a greater opportunity of building a stronger marriage and living together.
Yes. High risk, high return. Low risk, low return.
Life is not just about avoiding or reducing risks all the time, it's also about taking acceptable risks to create greater opportunities sometimes.
We make many decisions based on risk considerations every day without us realizing it.
When we approach risk systematically, we can achieve many more goals in our life - in our relationships, business, career, etc.
What are some of the risks that people are addressing in life?
So I decided to keep a Top Risk List - not as formal as the type the large organizations are usually looking at but equally (or more) meaningful to you in your day-to-day life.
Let me share the major causes of the top risks identified in my most recent risk assessments on business, marriage, and career goals respectively.
To make this knowledge more meaningful to you, I have also developed resources to help you take your first step in addressing these risks.
Feel free to explore any that is relevant to you and your current goal.
Business
A major cause of the top risks:
Not being prepared for obstacles, lacking resilience.
Risk symptoms:
Your business recently got badly affected by a sudden incident. Your business isn't performing as well as before.
Take your first step:
Build your business resilience. Go through the Business Potholes Heatmap Checklist to be sure that you are prepared for each of these risk areas.
Marriage
Career
Your turn to try
Using this simple format above, can you start thinking of an area in your life that concerns you - your nearest goal for the next three months? Then, consider what could be the major causes that could stop you from achieving your goal, and what symptoms you should watch out for.
Write to me about what you come up with, and we can bounce thoughts over it.