Saturday, 12th September 2026.
Through all of the inspirational YouTube videos and self-help books, the theme that becomes apparently obvious is that nobody ever did anything meaningful without some element of risk. The partnership between passion and risk has permitted a select few to achieve their dreams.
Yet sometimes I forget that – despite there being infinite upsides to taking risk, there are potentially just as many downsides. For every success we see, there may have been 10, 50 or 100 failures. Time, resources and emotion are treated as chips in a gamble for success. So how do we determine whether the potential risk is worth the reward?
For me, one of the bigger risks in recent memory is dropping out of university to work in the family business. I traded the security of a Bachelor's in Business Management & Economics for a job in Project Management. The solidity of a university degree from UQ was being traded for a job that I had no experience in, and I was essentially throwing myself in at the deep end.
At that time, the risk felt worth it. I wasn't enjoying my time and I wasn't passionate about my degree (I wasn't doing very well either... my commitment directly reflected in my GPA). Despite it being a risk, it felt like a natural course of events. And even though my first stint in the family business didn't go to plan (I wouldn't consider it a failure: but I wouldn't consider it a success either), I learnt lots about the industry, and I was able to take my failures into my next stint.
That's where I think the value is, when assessing risk versus reward. I know it's only one example, but I believe that it's a valid one. I might fail 3, 5 or 10 more times in my role, and that's okay. Taking a perspective that rebrands failure as learning has allowed me to not beat myself up as much, but to immediately incorporate my new learnings into my role, and into my life.
It took me a couple of years to learn this, and I'm still getting better. But this attitude means that I can sit back and let different experiences show me where I need to grow, treating these experiences as opportunities instead of shortcomings.
Even if it's a small risk, we can't fail without it. Every time we take a risk, we risk failure. But we also give ourselves the opportunity to view it as growth, meaning that calculated risk is a win-win. Either you succeed and move to the next step, or you get the opportunity to try again – better equipped to handle the situation than you were last time.
I don't see myself as a risk-taker, and it's something I want to get better at. I've always been so scared of failure, but it's no way to live life. Maybe leaving university was the first step, I'm not sure. But I've been enjoying the risk, and this newfound perspective has brought me peace of mind. It turns fear into curiosity, and failure into growth.
Perhaps that is the reward that really matters.
Talk soon.
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