On Risk

I talk a lot on this blog about stuff that I believe in, philosophies, attitudes. These are things which I believe should be part of the common human thought, but I see examples regularly of people not following their heart, for any number of reasons. I have already covered the idea that people need to find purpose, to identify what it is they want to do, and go, go, go. It’s no surprise that the name of this blog reflects my thoughts on how life, love and web design should be approached. It is only the steadfast that will make it to the end, those willing to absorb the hits, burst through the walls that life puts up, deny reality in favor of a dream and accept the inherent risk of life.

Well today while perusing my blogs, linked from the 37 Signals feed was an article on career planning, or for that matter, un-career planning. This excerpt popped out at me (although the article as a whole is absolutely excellent).

The world is a very malleable place. If you know what you want, and you go for it with maximum energy and drive and passion, the world will often reconfigure itself around you much more quickly and easily than you would think.

I think that sums things up pretty well: just start driving, and eventually the road will come up to meet you.

Now that is basically just repeating my previous post, but what is really covered in Andreessen’s post is risk. This is a logical off-shoot of purpose and drive: when you know what you want, you will need to take risks to achieve it. There is no way for me truly sum up his post here, but suffice to say that once a person has drive, courage to overcome those risks, or to just plainly accept them for what they are, is key to achieving anything worth writing song about.

So in all things, devote yourself whole heartedly, pour yourself into your life, love and work. Don’t be afraid of what could be, don’t be brash though, think about the options and consequences. Life is always trying to tell you that you’re not going to make it, that it will be too risky, too dangerous, too new. Although terrible things can happen because our choices, so also great joy and fulfillment can only be reached by insisting that despite all obstacles and fears, love is not over.

Can’t get enough? You may be interested in these posts as well:

Ignorance is Freedom

On Purpose

Moving on up, to the North side

Love = Heart

Our Greatest Fear