A big risk is the possibility to cease to gain something worthwhile. The worthwhile or valuable things are social status, physical health, financial health and of course, emotional well being. These values can be acquired or left forever while taking a big risk in life from a stated action or inaction and that may be further planned or unplanned. It is alternatively called an intentional interplay with unpredictability. Paucity of predictability is a potential threat which is termed as an event beyond control and, therefore, a risk is undertaken in spite of knowing the fact that the success is not definite and chances of failure are high.
Perceiving big risk is a subjective assessment that people try to conceive and the degree of risk varies from person to person, based on severity and probability. In other words, any endeavor constitutes risk, but some activities are subject to more risks than others.
It is inherent in human nature to turn eyes away from big risks. However, thinking big demands every preparedness to go for big risks. Human history is replete with instances of people taking big risks and achieving staggering success. It is quite apt to say that a majority of the clan of entrepreneurs across the globe are the wealthiest persons. This is due to their lack of fear to start a business. Figuratively, most of the ventures never see the daylight and the objectives are nipped in the bud at the end. Even so, when a business project tastes success, it generates significant revenue and profits for the owners. Thus, fighting against the odd and taking big risks is the order of the day, otherwise social upliftment and human welfare will be a distant dream for the human civilization.
People live in an antagonistic culture. The average person will, in a natural way, acknowledge what they judge is fixed when provided with the option between certainty and uncertainty. The variables in life are always an unwelcome event for them. So many individuals believe that discharging obligations for self is safer than serving for others. But if somebody from the usual line of thinking shows an impulse to think out of the box and chooses a stable and profitable profession that ensures high returns, the shadow of big risk prevails over as diverting from a normal set of conditions to an abrupt change in the scenario, which might lead to disaster. This is, in fact, the dilemma of a big risk.
When glancing at the surrounding things, one observes that nearly all businesses are established by either a single person or an amalgamation of people, who commonly have high aspirations. In this way, these tiny businesses might have transformed into big conglomerates who trade in shares and stock exchanges of international repute, but in reality, they have taken big risks to develop themselves as what they are today. Going forward with this concept requires the versatility of a distinct individual who has the element of fire within self that always blazes up quite differently from others who are of conventional types.
While it requires creativity, vision and understanding of the business traits, it can be said that the readiness to accept a potential risk is a huge difference between a generalist and a specialist. A specialist is always desirous to sharpen the hidden skillsets to venture for big risks.
Taking risk is not all that the risk-taker is supposed to aspire. Risk assessment is one of the prime factors to be considered before attempting a risky venture. When assessing risk, potential losses are considered more dominating than potential gains. The more the focus is on planning a schedule, the greater is the chance to overestimate the probability of the events materializing in one’s favor. But then again, the reality is that the risk of something not feasible is often not as critical as one thinks about. The chances of success, in most circumstances, is more vivid than what a person has presumed.
The plausible results are often exaggerated. This can be, in many ways, termed as catastrophizing. In an individual mindset, the threat of dramatics and dire consequences crops up dismally. Instead of assuming to behave rationally and promptly to brush off a worse scenario, an individual helplessly watches the situation going berserk. The entire circumstance is conjured up as a misfortune and act of God and one tends to find solace in it in place of finding ways and means to sort out the issues in hand. People of this nature are neurologically entangled to magnify the situation if the scheduled strategy does not fit in. Resultantly, the virtual problems remain unresolved and the possibility of further impact is always there to exist.
Lack of ability to assess the risk outcome is the general scenario. More frequently, a person displays his quota of misperceptions about whether the ability to do better in life is there or not. Consequently, new challenges are forgotten and the purpose of taking an appropriate risk is lost in midway.
The ingredient of inaction on one’s part is, therefore, denied and the status quo remains as it is. While consoling self that the situation is not that bad as before, a person unconsciously reaches a point where nothing fruitful will happen. In real-time, things that are not favorable, tend to get worse and problems in human interactions are magnified to the state of futility. Fear and apprehension are more damaging than failure.
Success, many a time, implies having the right idea at the right time and in the precise location. Here is a vivid anecdote that can inspire many risk-takers to explore the avenues of success:
Twitter
Since 2008, Twitter’s customer base has been on increase. But initially, the profit earning ratio was not as high as expected. Then a proposal was prompted by Facebook to take over the rights which were duly dismissed by the Twitter officials. The very rejection of the offer by Twitter was termed as a big risk factor by business analysts. But ultimately the risk paid off and Twitter is nowadays deemed to be a colossal social networking site in the modern era of internet of things (IoT).
So, taking big risks is not the essence of any human actions. The prime objective is risk assessment. It is construed as the behavioral and organizational state of mind, along with knowledge-based decision making.
Would you like to read more about this topic? This book might interest you: History of Big Risks.