As I am diving into the impossible goals section of this month, I can’t help but apply some risk management to this process. If my impossible goal is to start a new coaching practice and achieve a livable income the first year (let’s say $60k+), I can’t help but think that there is a non-negligible and non-trivial risk behind this decision. This is all with the understanding of “high risk, high reward” and the above statement is exactly why the impossible goal is such a huge value-added endeavor. That’s great and all, but how is that going to feed my family? I understand that risk is completely neutral and is merely a tool to aid decisions.

Now, I also understand the “See what your brain is doing to you right now? It’s finding all the reasons not to do something ‘risky’ and to stay safe in your bubble.” And I get that too. Seeking evidence is critical to risk management as you try to find the magnitude of the consequence vs the probability. You can only look backwards to find that information usually. Now, there’s the part of “who cares about the past, look forward and get to that point you choose for yourself.” On board with that, but still struggling with the catastrophic “what ifs.” As I look at all the successful coaches through LCS I can find my evidence of success, so there is that, but still am not convinced that the “100” failures necessary aren’t going to be at the expense of me alone (which I would be ok with), but at the expense of others who trust me with their well being.

I suppose the model I’m reflecting here is below:
C: starting a new business
T: there’s a lot of risk here, failure could be catastrophic to the family and really put us in a bad place when I could have just stayed in my current well-paying career
F: “uh-oh” or apprehensive
A: bail and don’t do it
R: same place with a “what-if” (which isn’t terrible, but could be way better).

I need help with a more intentional model to quiet the thoughts of uncertainty with regards to those who depend on me. I can’t seem to calm the alarm bells of “very high risk” with this.

Second related question: Where do we allow risk to enter into our thoughts with regards to the model? After binging quite a bit of scholars calls (past and present) I am looking at models that don’t seem to have risk tied to them, but more optimism. If there’s a 100% chance of failure, no optimism or intentional models is going to aid that risk. How do we use risk as the neutral tool it is and then manage our thoughts around that? There’s risk decisions every day, how can we use the model with them?

Thanks and Happy New Year!