Week 2023#08: risks are there to be taken

Taking risks and dealing with the ensuing problems requires resources, just like growth.

Fixing up my house in Sweden requires resources. Since my income is limited, I’m working on reducing my expenses by buying items in bulk, from the most inexpensive source (Prisma in this case).

What I’ve learned

Look for opportunities with limited downsides and potentially unlimited upsides.

What a week! Week 8 out of 52 was full of new inputs.

For the first time in a very long time, I actually visited users of the product that my team is developing, used the product like they are using it, and got a whole new perspective on what we are actually doing. The software is not an abstract thing anymore, but rather a concrete tool and I connect it with real people, real places, and real problems.

The time needed for this perspective change: about 2 hours.

The impact: the next few months.

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The 105th Estonian Independence Day also marks the start of a new romantic relationship.

Every time a romantic relationship ended in my life, I pretty soon started feeling puzzled by how I even got into one in the first place.

If I had to sum it up, it boils down to “If you like somebody, express this clearly, not necessarily with words”.

Yes, I only started to understand this in my early thirties, and sometimes it felt like I’m failing at this very basic “life skill”, which isn’t even a “skill” because people around seemed to have an easy time initiating intimate connections.

Looking back at the week, I realized that this is also a form of risk-taking: you need to face the risk of rejection in order to potentially enter a rewarding relationship.

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All of this got me thinking about what risks I have taken in my life, how much research I did about them before taking them, what the potential upsides are, and at what probability I take them.

I’ve tended to take risks with a very low probability AND a very low expected loss.

Essentially, I’ve only ever placed small bets.

So far this has worked out more or less okay, but I’m starting to feel that I could adjust my appetite for risk to achieve greater things.

Also, taking risks means that sometimes things don’t pan out in your favor.

These are learning opportunities.

Only taking risks that have a very low probability of actually happening (getting that rejection, losing money on the stock market, not finishing that course you started, etc) means that you are missing out on the learning opportunities in addition to not getting the reward for taking the risk.

If this has awakened your appetite for risk: I’m looking for people to co-own this villa in Kramfors with. Initial investment per person: 5600 EUR, monthly upkeep about 70 EUR. Will need a new roof (~4000 EUR per person) in the next 24 months.

Check out the full listing here.

This is part of me taking bigger risks

Expectations vs Reality

• I will not be alone on Estonian Independence Day: yes! I spent the day with friends I’ve known for years and the evening with my new special someone 😊

• I’ll make it to the gym 4 times: yes! This is still a habit I’m working on re-establishing. Some days it’s hard, but last week it has gotten easier and I’m starting to feel the desire to go to the gym because I feel so much better every time I go.

• The date for the next Estonian workshop is set: yes! While I slipped a bit with the content schedule, the main income is from the actual workshops, so I need to keep organizing those instead of focusing so much on producing content.

What happened

Highlights of last week:

• I rediscovered that rock climbing at Kivi Climbing is a ton of fun and a good upper-body workout if you want it to be. Will go more often!

• I’ve entered a new romantic relationship and this one is different from all the previous beginnings: it did not happen explosively in a few days, we didn’t move in together after a week of knowing each other, and it’s not consuming my entire life. This is so different from my past experience that it also scares me a little, just because it’s different.

• After meeting with a circle of friends that only rarely manages to get together, I’ve made the decision to leave Reformierakond and join Eesti 200. What was holding me back from this earlier? I didn’t know enough about what would motivate me to leave Reform to actually justify leaving. Now I do: Reform is so big already that a lot of resources are allocated to the overhead of being part of the political system, whereas Eesti 200 is young and small enough to focus on thinking about realistic solutions to the problems of today and tomorrow.