⏳ Write Down Your Risk-Taking Factor

T.I.N.Y Blog, Time Billionaires #025

Aadit Sheth

Nov 30, 2022

Hello to 16,571 nerds reading this T.I.N.Y blog.

TL;DR (feel free to skip around):

Thought: Think about your risk-taking factor
Interesting: How to sleep better
Not to be missed: How to build stuff with AI
Yes: Sometimes you earn, sometimes you learn.

What’s your risk-taking factor?

I’ve realized that everything you do comes down to one thing: the risk-taking factor.

If you are reading this right now, chances are you have an entrepreneurial mindset. You want to build things that should exist in this world. Or they do exist but you can do it better.

Then one thing you have to consider is your risk-taking factor (especially if you are going to quit your job to work for yourself).

The risk-taking factor isn’t entirely dependent on age. But it has a strong correlation:

Generally, the older you get, the lower your risk-taking factor.

This is mostly because as you grow older, you have more responsibilities: kids, spouse, and societal expectations. There are a lot of things to take care of as you grow older.

There are of course exceptions to what I said above. There are plenty of people that have a comfortable, stable life but they’ll risk everything on the line for passion, ambition, or sometimes literally just more money. I spoke to Brett Adcock a few months ago. And I was shocked by how ambitious he is.

But one thing you should not forget is that the risk-taking factor is also an important part of being an entrepreneur. If you are afraid to take risks, you will never maximize the potential of an idea or venture.

The hardest thing is finding that balance. And sometimes once you’ve taken a risk of a substantial size, it feels like “all or nothing”.

The best thing I’ve found to do in this situation (regardless of age), is to secure yourself financially before taking any big risks. Usually, I love seeing people take huge risks and make things happen.

But I’ve been hearing more stories about people losing their money in things they don’t understand (i.e. crypto) and it’s just not worth it.

So again… ensure you and your family are financially secure.

And then the next thing I love doing to assess if a risk/business is worth pursuing:

Simple pros vs cons list.

It’s easy to do. Doesn’t take that long. And honestly, it cuts the crap. Simply state the rewards versus drawbacks of doing a certain thing. Write it down. Not in your head. But on a piece of paper. It works best.