Thanks for sharing your vulnerability. It's inspiring.
One of the greatest risks I've taken is deciding to stop my swimming career. This was a hard decision as I felt like I was betraying my team, my family, and my whole identity. I quickly found that I now had the time to find who I really wanted to be. Yes my identity was tied to swimming but now I was free to choose the things I did which in turn shaped me more into what I am now. I am more passionate about the things I am doing now.
The greatest risk I plan on taking is moving abroad. To go to a place where they might not even speak the same language. To immerse myself in the unknown and hopefully emerge with confidence and wisdom and say to myself "yeah I did that shit". Also, maybe to live as a farmer or something 👨🏼🌾🐖
Yeah it's really scary closing the chapter to something that dictated your entire social life and cadence of your day. I had to go through something similar with soccer in high school, but nothing close to the level of change you had to adapt to.
You might enjoy watching "Only Yesterday", it's a Ghibli movie that involves a countryside getaway!
Love this piece, and the songs for each section are such a vibe.
It took me a while to think about this, about what I’ve really risked like what I had to lose in different situations. I think one of the biggest things I have to lose is my sense of myself in the world (ie how I view myself, my outlook, my goals). So my biggest risks would be times when I’ve had to introspect and really genuinely be myself and show this to friends/family/others who also have the power to shape how I feel about myself. I guess that’s not super specific but I think it’s made up of a lot of smaller daily choices.
A risk I want to take in the future is managing other people, particularly in running my own research group. I think it still scares me a bit now because of all of the responsibilities that come with it but I really want the ability to mentor and work with and learn from people over long stretches of time in this type of role.
goddamn Raymond such beautiful, painful honesty in this essay.
i like to ask myself a similar question: what would make this a great story? i thought a lot about going all in on tutoring, but i realize i don't have a strong enough conviction. the money & market is there, but i feel like there is something else i want to do. so my greatest risk right now might be staying employed while i focus on more creative projects.
i'm inspired by your conviction here. if you do choose to go all in, i'd def still be following you and your journey. exciting stuff ahead!
It's awesome that you went out and seized the tutoring opportunity as best you could, now you'll have fewer regrets and more clarity with deciding what's next for you
that’s a great way to put it, yeah i think i dont really have regrets now because i pursued it. hoping you’ll feel the same way with your clothing brand!
The greatest risk I've taken is investing 20k and 2 years into creating and publishing my 1st comic book.
The greatest risk I hope to take one day is to quit my job to work on my business full time.
Right now I'm taking smaller calculated risks (like creating and publishing more budget friendly books) "where I get to play for a while long enough that I can get good at it by failing" as talked about in this video between Seth Godin and Chris do.
Thanks for sharing Chris! This comes at a great time because I've also been trying to shift my mindset in a way that allows me to fail more often. It's pretty crazy to think about how much I still don't know and haven't tried yet
raymond you do such a beautiful job at describing youth! I think my biggest risk has been apologizing honestly to friends. Then, it’d be the academic sacrifices I made to pursue my creator economy internship in college (studying way less for exams, lower GPA, skipping a week of class for VidSummit). The biggest risk I hope to take… prob pivoting a startup or publishing a vulnerable book
Thanks for sharing your vulnerability. It's inspiring.
One of the greatest risks I've taken is deciding to stop my swimming career. This was a hard decision as I felt like I was betraying my team, my family, and my whole identity. I quickly found that I now had the time to find who I really wanted to be. Yes my identity was tied to swimming but now I was free to choose the things I did which in turn shaped me more into what I am now. I am more passionate about the things I am doing now.
The greatest risk I plan on taking is moving abroad. To go to a place where they might not even speak the same language. To immerse myself in the unknown and hopefully emerge with confidence and wisdom and say to myself "yeah I did that shit". Also, maybe to live as a farmer or something 👨🏼🌾🐖
Yeah it's really scary closing the chapter to something that dictated your entire social life and cadence of your day. I had to go through something similar with soccer in high school, but nothing close to the level of change you had to adapt to.
You might enjoy watching "Only Yesterday", it's a Ghibli movie that involves a countryside getaway!
Love this piece, and the songs for each section are such a vibe.
It took me a while to think about this, about what I’ve really risked like what I had to lose in different situations. I think one of the biggest things I have to lose is my sense of myself in the world (ie how I view myself, my outlook, my goals). So my biggest risks would be times when I’ve had to introspect and really genuinely be myself and show this to friends/family/others who also have the power to shape how I feel about myself. I guess that’s not super specific but I think it’s made up of a lot of smaller daily choices.
A risk I want to take in the future is managing other people, particularly in running my own research group. I think it still scares me a bit now because of all of the responsibilities that come with it but I really want the ability to mentor and work with and learn from people over long stretches of time in this type of role.
Sounds like a series of smaller risks that roll up to something bigger! What you said reminds me of this quote:
"I'm not who I think I am, I'm not who you think I am, I am who I think you think I am."
Really cool quote, I like that!
goddamn Raymond such beautiful, painful honesty in this essay.
i like to ask myself a similar question: what would make this a great story? i thought a lot about going all in on tutoring, but i realize i don't have a strong enough conviction. the money & market is there, but i feel like there is something else i want to do. so my greatest risk right now might be staying employed while i focus on more creative projects.
i'm inspired by your conviction here. if you do choose to go all in, i'd def still be following you and your journey. exciting stuff ahead!
It's awesome that you went out and seized the tutoring opportunity as best you could, now you'll have fewer regrets and more clarity with deciding what's next for you
that’s a great way to put it, yeah i think i dont really have regrets now because i pursued it. hoping you’ll feel the same way with your clothing brand!
The greatest risk I've taken is investing 20k and 2 years into creating and publishing my 1st comic book.
The greatest risk I hope to take one day is to quit my job to work on my business full time.
Right now I'm taking smaller calculated risks (like creating and publishing more budget friendly books) "where I get to play for a while long enough that I can get good at it by failing" as talked about in this video between Seth Godin and Chris do.
https://youtube.com/shorts/wnJeYa9G6VI?si=McS04ym6a4NL3nX-
Thanks for sharing Chris! This comes at a great time because I've also been trying to shift my mindset in a way that allows me to fail more often. It's pretty crazy to think about how much I still don't know and haven't tried yet
You're welcome Raymond!
raymond you do such a beautiful job at describing youth! I think my biggest risk has been apologizing honestly to friends. Then, it’d be the academic sacrifices I made to pursue my creator economy internship in college (studying way less for exams, lower GPA, skipping a week of class for VidSummit). The biggest risk I hope to take… prob pivoting a startup or publishing a vulnerable book
keep betting on yourself!
i love this