3 Questions You Must Ask Yourself Before Taking Any Risk
How To Decide When You Should Go For It
I recently started a YouTube channel… I know, it seems pretty daring to start something like this in 2021 after YouTube is fully established and the algorithm… well…“it is what it is.”
It's especially daring when you find out what type of YouTube channel I started… let’s just say, I am “all in.”
But isn’t that the best way to do something? Approaching it with no reservations and letting the chips fall where they may.
I say this because my channel is not just your everyday “tips and advice” channel (i.e. Top 10 Ways To Grow Your YouTube Channel in 2021). No, it is nothing like that. My channel will document my family’s journey as expats in Europe over the next few years, capturing our memories, our experiences, and the raw lessons we learn along the way.
It’s a risky endeavor. Not only do we not know if the YouTube channel will work out, we also do not know if moving to Europe during a global pandemic will be completely amazing or a total disaster.
The Moment Before Stepping Out
Anyone who has ever done anything big has had that moment right before you step out where you begin to question yourself.
I have to say, deciding to move my family to Europe during a global pandemic was one of those moments. The questions rushed in like a flood.
I wondered:
- Would it be safe?
- Would we be isolated from community?
- Would borders ever open up again allowing us to travel?
- Would moving to Europe during a pandemic mean being near a diverse body of countries, people, and cultures but never actually being able to experience them?
- How long would the Pandemic last?
And to be honest. I didn’t have answers to any of these questions. All I had was an opportunity and a question on whether or not I would pursue it.
I want to encourage you if you are considering starting something that requires you to take a risk.
Maybe this is starting a new business, or creating an online platform that shares your knowledge and experience with others, or maybe it is just doing something that is out of your comfort zone. Whatever the case, here are three questions everyone should consider before moving forward.
Three Questions To Consider Before Taking Any Risk
1. Do You Really Believe In The Mission?
What you can do and what you should do are two different things. All of us have a unique lens through which we see the world. This brings with it a unique set of skills, perspectives, and experiences through which we can offer value to others.
Although my family and I decided to move to Europe and start a YouTube channel to document our journey, I cannot say this is right for everyone. It is important to my wife and I because we really felt a desire to live outside of our comfort zone and document how it stretches and shapes us along the way. We felt this could be a great encouragement to others and also a treasure trove of memories and lessons for our kids as they grow.
In other words, we have a strong “why” behind what we are doing. This “why” is what has become our mission.
Your mission will be different based on what is important to you, but whatever you do, make sure you really believe in it. If you don’t, then as soon as adversity comes — and it will come — you will not have any longevity. However, if you have a strong “why” behind your actions, then you will be able to weather any storm, and be able to endure for the long haul.
2. Does It Match Your Natural Gifts and Abilities?
Why do some things seem to come so effortlessly to some people, while others really have to struggle at it? The answer is we all have our own Zone of Genius.
I love a quote by Albert Einstein which says:
“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”
Don’t get me wrong, we can all get better at just about anything through practice and hard work, but what I am saying is your ceiling will always be higher when you find your Zone of Genius.
In his book The Big Leap, Gay Hendricks identified four different zones that we all operate in, but only one is your Zone of Genius:
- The Zone of Incompetence: Most of life takes place in this zone. You are here when you engage in something but have no inherent knowledge or skill at it. In this place almost everyone does things better than you.
- The Zone of Competence: You are here when you can pick something up fairly quickly, but your efforts are not distinguished in anyway from others who are doing the same thing.
- The Zone of Excellence: Usually there are only a few things you can do in this zone. It is when something comes completely natural to you and you can demonstrate a high competence almost effortlessly.
- The Zone of Genius: You move into this zone when you take something that comes natural and work really hard at it, developing your craft so that you can do it in a way that goes far beyond what others can do.
If you are about to take a big risk, ask yourself if it allows you to operate within your Zone of Genius.
3. If You Do Nothing, Will You Regret It?
Risk and uncertainty go hand and hand. You will never have all the answers, and pursuing anything worthwhile in life always requires risk, but the question you must ask yourself is:
Is the risk of losing this opportunity greater than the risk of going after it?
If your answer to this question is yes, then your decision is clear. You have to pursue it.
When Jeff Bezos was considering leaving his high paying job on Wall Street in the 90s to start Amazon.com (which few people know also comes up as relentless.com), he struggled with this decision also.
What ultimately convinced him to take the leap was this. He called it a Regret Minimization Framework which is where he projected his life forward to the age of 80 and asked his future self, “If I lived my whole life and never did this thing (no matter how it worked out) would I regret having never tried?”
For him the answer was absolutely, yes! He would have regretted never even trying at something he really believed in. He says it would not have bothered him to try and fail , but it would have absolutely bothered him to have never tried.
He says viewing things in this way made his decision incredibly easy. It allowed him to tune out all the near-term considerations (like, would he miss out on his end of year bonus) and outside opinions (which usually only tell you why something will not work) and just listen to himself, with a deep perspective of what will matter to him at the end of his life.
Bringing It All Together
If you are considering doing something that takes you out of your comfort zone and requires risk. I encourage you to do it if you really believe in it, it is consistent with your zone of genius, and if in the end you will always regret having never tried.
This is where my family and I have found ourselves in 2021 when we decided to make the leap and become expats in Europe. Follow our journey on YouTube as we document the ups and downs and share the lessons learned along the way. And please be sure to comment below and let us know more about your journey as you do things that are outside of your comfort zone — big or small.
Or reach out to me directly at: matterpursuit@gmail.com
