Choose To Risk

Photo Credit: Arjawa Photography

Yesterday, during my exam, I had to face objective questions. I would loose marks if I guessed it wrong. More specifically: One correct answer would equal to 1 mark whereas one incorrect answer would result to loss of 0.25 marks. So, every incorrect answer would result to -0.25.

I was wondering if I should leave unfamiliar questions or guess the answer.

Should I risk 0.25 for 1 marks or should I leave it and play it safe? I kept asking this question to myself from time to time. I wasn’t sure what to do. There were 5 answers to choose from. So the probability of my answer being correct was relatively low.

After much internal debate, I planned to risk 0.25 for 1 marks. I could have played it safe but I didn’t like the idea of leaving something behind, when I could play it. If I left it and played it safe then I would get nothing and loose a mark, but if I risked it, I had the chances of both – getting right and wrong. Probability of it being right was 1/5. I would win a mark if it was right or I’d loose 0.25, if it was wrong.

Taking risk seemed pretty good idea to me at the time because it would leave me uncertain about my marks. I could go up because it had high limited upside, i.e. 1 marks and if I had it correct, and had low limited downside, i.e. -0.25.

That’s the same with life. Always look on the upside of everything, not the downside. I always love the idea of taking risks. The thing that intrigues me about risk is that it has got unlimited upside and limited downside – most of the time. Even in the worst case, it has limited high upside and low downside – like in my case. If I win I get 1 marks, if I loose I only loose 0.25. That’s pretty awesome.

However, it would have been a whole other case if I’d loose 1 marks for a wrong answer. I would then consider playing it safe. It’s a kind of skill you develop where you identify upside and downside of any stuff. If downside equals to upside or the downside is unlimited then you’ll be a fool to try and risk it.

You want to learn programming? Just jump into it. Most people think that they’ll loose time if they can’t learn it, but compare it with the amount of knowledge you get through it. It has got unlimited potential. The upside is unlimited and downside is limited to just wasting your time, which you would waste, anyway, watching TV. You can create different stuffs, you can earn lots of money and you can fix technical issues by yourself. The idea is solely based on risking your time for unlimited upside. Look at it this way: The worst case scenario is that you’ll loose your time but you’ll at least gain some knowledge which will help you forever.

Same with musical instrument or anything you want to learn. Take risks and aim for the unlimited. If you’re near unlimited upside then take risks. There’s unlimited potential in business. If you crash then you’ll loose only what you had, but if you grow then there’s no limit to how much you can grow. It’s unlimited.

People who play safe work as employees whereas people who take risks build business. People who play safe stay on a fixed place, whereas people who take risks travel the world.

By any case, people who take risks have thrilling, happy and much more adventurous life. This life is a one go and it can end pretty quickly. There’s a saying that, If you don’t build your dreams, someone will hire you to build theirs.

In the nutshell, Identify the upside and downside of anything you want to work on. If it has got unlimited upside and limited downside, as in the case of business, take risks. You can lead if you win and guide others if you loose.

Identifying upside and downside is a skill in itself. It might take time to learn but it’s totally worth it. And helps us in every aspect of our life.

The bird who dares to fall, is the bird who learns to fly.