Security is for Cowards
March 7th, 2005 by Steve Pavlina
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8 Responses to “Security is for Cowards”
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March 7th, 2005 at 4:11 pm
and yet…he blew his head off.
I’m not saying his essay is wrong, but put in the context of what he did 50 years after he wrote it, it kinda makes you think. Maybe he realized he had stopped truly living a while ago and just decided to go ahead and finish the job?
We’ll never really know.
March 8th, 2005 at 2:04 am
What things would you class as risk?
Would say turning 18, moving away from home to start work as a software developer on the other side of the country, getting your own apartment and taking care of yourself be classified as a risk? What if you secure the job first before moving – is that still living in ’security’?
Or are we talking more about BIG risks, like just going to another country with no idea what you are going to do when you get there (and you already had a good life at home). Is that taking risks, or is it being foolish?
March 8th, 2005 at 2:07 am
Ok… I clicked ‘Say It’ and it didn’t do anything :S
What risks are we talking about? What classifies a risk?
I just turned 18 and moved to a capital city far away from where I grew up, to work as a trainee programmer. I went from living with my parents out in the country to living by myself in a big city in my own place. But I secured the job first before coming up, so would that be classified as a risk? Am I a coward?
March 8th, 2005 at 10:23 am
You tell me. Was it an intelligent risk for you (i.e. not overly cautious on the one side or overly reckless on the other)?
March 8th, 2005 at 12:58 pm
If you ask “what qualifies as risk”, sorry to put it bluntly, then you don’t understand the article. In my opinion the article doesn’t say “take any risk, for the sake of risk”.
The article says something like:
Try to accomplish something significant for you or for others. Even if there are risks involved, don’t let this stop you. Don’t get caught in the routine of life, don’t let yourself become numb – work on significant tings, and take risks for this.
March 8th, 2005 at 1:26 pm
Sorry about the double posting – I didn’t think the first comment sent, feel free to delete it.
I was cautious in that I waited until I was sure I had the job before I moved, but I still wasn’t sure what it would be like living in a big city having never lived in one before. I guess it was an intelligent risk, I believed I could do it while knowing there was a chance I might fail.
March 9th, 2005 at 1:58 am
It is important to manage the risk.
Only a stupid guy could take a risk without evaluating consequences
In big business, risk management is omnipresent.
March 9th, 2005 at 9:26 am
A precision to my precedent comment.
Risk is also onimpresent in business.
Without taking risk at all, you get nothing.
Some take too many risks and some, not enough.
It is important to know that the risk co-exist with action. Some wants to act only if the risk is null. Otherwise, they are paralysed. So, they will never act. Each act as a part of risk.
When you understand this paradigm, you can manage the risk. What are the risks if you fail? What are the benefit if you succeed?
You just have to balance this two aspects and take a decision. If you can support the risk of failing, so you can act, you must act.