Calculated Risks

I finished my PhD without having another job lined up. At the time, I had two life choices: to jump directly into a new academic/company job

OR

take a break to find out who the hell I am, what is my purpose in life and go into full mental recovery.

𝘚𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘳: I didn’t magically find out who I was. I did, however, take a break. And embarked on a 6-month backpacking trip to south-east Asia. 

➤ My partner and I canceled our apartment and fit our lives in a 5x5(?) m2 storage box
➤ We saved up well in advance to ensure we were financially covered in that period.
➤ We had no idea what we would do (or what country we would live in) afterward.

I could delude you, (and me) into thinking that I was utterly desperate for an adventure. But that is not exactly true. 

I was just scared to face the decision of what job I am going to embark on that will shape the rest of my (working) life. 

But isn’t it scary to take that big of a risk without having insurance of what to do next?

You bet it is.

But sometimes you have to do scary things to… avoid other scary things. 

That doesn’t mean going wild and reckless. But it does mean that once in a while you are allowed to take calculated risks. 

For our backpacking trip, that meant preparing months in advance to scout for flights, book storage options for our stuff, save iconic places on Instagram. 

When I quit my job one and a half year ago that meant having emergency savings, a commitment to try it at least for 6 months, and a lot of mental manipulation and trust that you will figure things out along the way.

As author Jonathan Goodman describes in his book Unhinged Habits, most experiences are ‘hats to try on’ rather than ‘permanent tattoos’. And this is how I see working life now. For some it is hard to choose what’s next. It is scary to quit. It is embarrassing to admit when things are not working. 

But It is not that one big irreversible decision that will mean you F’d up and can’t take it back. 

The smartest people I know approach work with a strategy in mind: I will look for job X to learn Y.

But whether it is big decisions or big dreams: they all start with calculated risks (and sometimes, an utter desperation for adventure).

Keep up the audacity,

Laura

PS. Tell me about a calculated risk you took lately?