I've pushed pause on the usual blog posts to make space to reflect on some questions over the next week or so. This post is Part III of VI.
If you want to make a difference in the world, or feel like you're not sure what to do with your vocational life, you might like to follow along and answer these questions for yourself.
Risk.
Life involves risk.
Change requires it.
If it were a sure thing, if there was zero risk, anyone could do it, and everyone who wanted to would.
So when we're looking at our lives, at the work we want to do, at who want to engage with, and at the change we want to see, what are we willing to put on the table?
How much risk? How much am I willing to put at stake to make the change I seek?
At the top level, the lifetime level, I'm essentially willing to stake my life on it. What could be more worthwhile to spend a life on?
Lifetime given in service to others - 10/10, 100% risk.
On a project-by-project, item-by-item basis, it depends.
I guess, I'm forming together an approach to the work, the mahi, of my life that allows me to continue to give more to it. I reduce the risk of each step by developing some guidelines for how the work is done, that allows me to risk more on each project.
As the risk of failure reduces, I risk more of myself on it. Which means the impact of a failure is greater, but is less likely to happen.
And failure does not mean that a specific target isn't achieved. A key guidelines is that a project failure is not a failure of the work if there is something to learnt.
In summary: On a project with a high chance of being a waste of time, I will risk very little of myself, and spend my energies in other ways in pursuit of the life and world I seek to live in.
On a project with a high chance of being pulled off, of seeing change happen, I will risk much more of myself, and give more of my energies to seeing it happen.
Practically: The things of my life which are not (yet) aligned with the work I want to do, the change I wish to see and the people I seek to work with, are 100% up for grabs, when the opportunity presents itself.