Influential people in business and finance say that risk-taking is an integral part of progress in today’s world. But if it’s not your nature to take risks, how can you feel reassured as you leap into the unknown?
In a world where a life-guaranteed job is becoming scarce, traditional avenues for work and employment no longer exist in most advanced economies. Does that mean we have to take risks in order to advance? That’s what Bill Owlette, a lecturer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, thinks.
Owlette insists that doing things the same way we are used to in an age of uncertainty is really “the biggest risk you can take”.
This attitude may be reflected in the way we view risk takers. Those who are brave enough to leap from height are valued and respected, regardless of whether it is a good thing or not. In any case, a safe way of dealing with things does not make our work attractive, or eye-catching.
Would Elon Musk have achieved this status among businessmen around the world in the way we see it today if he had not taken the risks that made his companies leap at rocket speed after they reached the brink of bankruptcy in 2008, and are now companies like Tesla and SpaceX? Is it worth billions?
Therefore, we should perhaps not be surprised to see risk taking becoming a contemporary global phenomenon. The culture of startup entrepreneurs based on the philosophy (start big or don’t start) has created and reinforced the mentality that says that only risk-takers reap rewards.
As for those who do not seize the opportunities, they are on the path to “failure,” as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg says.
But what does it take for one of us to be risky? Is it possible for one of us to turn himself into a risky person?
Our ability to seize opportunity, and to be comfortable with the unknown, or unknown outcomes, is influenced by our psychological make-up, the vital functions within our bodies, the culture we were raised in, and broader societal acceptance of risky behaviour.
For example, researchers have found that our levels of the male hormone testosterone are directly related to our willingness to take risks. Since the level of this hormone is higher in men than in women, we can often act impulsively based on incomplete information, even though the sexes have the same willingness to take risks.
Our willingness to take risks is also influenced by our own experiences, and by the stock of our individual emotions. Maybe your parents didn’t like to take risks, or you may have taken a risk that didn’t work, which makes you wary when faced with the moment of choosing whether to step forward or hold back.
There are also cultural factors, as you may be descended from a society or social group that prefers safe successes that do not involve risk or risk in a person’s professional, financial or personal life, over opportunities based on the principle of trial and error.
In some environments, such as California’s Silicon Valley, risk-taking is essential to success in the culture of new employers and founders that thrive there.
And for those who aren’t inherently risky, there are some ways you can feel reassured to take a risk. You can, within narrow limits, modify the psychological reactions that may keep you from taking risks, by mastering some psychological matters as well.
It has been proven that our fully focused behaviors, along with living a healthy lifestyle, are effective in controlling the amounts of adrenaline and cortisone, which are associated with stress, and are released when we are under the kind of stress associated with taking a risk.
In other words, mental focus can keep the level of cortisone and adrenaline low, thus remaining clear of mind to make smart decisions, including some of the risks necessary to achieve success in the murky world of business and finances of this age.
“Biological factors play an infinitesimal role in your risk-taking abilities, compared to environmental factors,” says Srini Pillay, author of Learn More, Think Less: Unleash the Power of a Distracted Mind and also an assistant professor of psychology at Harvard Medical School.
Pillay believes that one effective way to inoculate ourselves against the stress that risk can cause is to harness the power of our distracted mind.
Our conscious brain trains us to focus and use lessons from past experiences to make better decisions. But according to Pillay, the majority of experts, including Michael Gazzaniga, one of the most famous specialists in cognitive neuroscience, believe that between 90% and 98% of our mental activities are unconscious.
In order to become a better risk taker, it is absolutely necessary to let the subconscious dominate your thinking sometimes, which helps your brain to pick out long-forgotten memories and connect the different thoughts in your mind. Among the steps Pillay suggests activating our subconscious minds are naps, relaxation, and even characterization. A 2016 study found that people are more successful at solving problems and taking smart risks when they act as an eccentric poet, rather than an assertive librarian. and measured.
“The brain is optimally designed to offer both risk and certainty, focus and unfocusedness, and it is absolutely essential that every human learn how to balance both sides of the equation,” says Pillay.
There is a clear challenge you face when it comes to overcoming your past and bad experiences with past risks. It is sometimes impossible to influence the views of our friends, family, and colleagues when it comes to taking risks. But what we can change is the way we think about these elements, and our reactions to them.
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