What risks should you take to build a career?

How to Take Intelligent Career Risk

I stumbled upon this fantastic guest post on Tim’s 4HWW blog. I love this quote. It strongly resonated with me. Most of us, if not all of us, have never let go of this mentality, that has been drilled in to our brain for thousands of years by evolution and mother nature.

We all try to avoid and minimize threat, but as we all know – threat is (and has always been) inevitable. So is it really worth playing it safe?

Probably not..

Win Mentoring from Reid Hoffman, Chairman of LinkedIn

This logic is ingrained in our brain: It’s more costly to miss the sign of a threat than to miss the sign of opportunity.

http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2012/06/14/reid-hoffman/

As economy changes and world become harsher, threat is becoming vital part of the trade, perhaps more than ever. What risks are you willing to take in order to survive and prosper in this decade? Taking on a lower salary job that will broaden your horizons? Moving to a different country? Letting go of a corporate job and following your passion?

I tried all of these (and avoided many others), and what I learned is worth so much more than the money I (have not) made. More also, had I not taken these risks, I might have not been standing where I am right now.

So what risks are you willing to take? How did the risk you already took pay off?