Use risk for adrenaline and ambition to move mountains
Betting on yourself makes sense when you know you will work really, really hard.
I’m about to take the biggest risk of my career.
I left my job at Business Insider last week, parting ways with a senior role in mainstream media that I had sacrificed so much to secure.
Some context: When I applied for an internship at the outlet in 2021, I had already published a bestselling book, earned a Master’s degree from an elite university, and completed a string of splashy fellowships.
It took all that just to get my foot in the door.
Working in a legacy publication put me shoulder to shoulder with smart editors and scrappy reporters. I learned a lot and did a lot. I now have a sharper pen and deeper Rolodex than when I arrived.
And here I am now about to try something disruptive and unorthodox. The timing feels right — I’m itching to solve new and hard problems and take responsibility if I fail.
A handful of very accomplished individuals have warned me that the moment you feel satisfied, you have started your decline. I’m not yet qualified to verify that, but I know I’m not ready to stop climbing.
Importantly, the skills I carry with me are niche but transferable. That gives me confidence for what comes next. Though it’s not just that — I believe the idea I’ve been noodling on is strong, and that the story behind it is compelling.
Indeed, Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, has said the best companies start as ideas, not companies.
Good ideas lend themselves to interesting projects and passions. Starting a company for the sake of starting a company, meanwhile, often means a shorter lifespan and far more grief.
It’s the weight of obligation versus the spark of excitement. Without early mojo and verve, it’s harder to see “the point.” There’s never a guarantee a new company survives contact with reality, but the odds look better if its inception is backed by genuine belief.
Plus, how motivating is money alone? Initially, it may seem enticing. Later, once you can afford what you want to afford, money I would guess falls flat as a raison d’être.
To me, the greater allure — which of course a writer would say — is to create something people enjoy and want. Even if a business is mismanaged, a beautiful or delicious or irreplaceable product can keep the lights on. Customers (or readers or viewers or eaters) will do their best to make sure of it.
All this is to say I’m excited to build something new.
The risk I’m about to take will crystallize in the coming days, and this week will also serve to cement the bet I’m making on myself. I know if I had instead swallowed this bet and done nothing, the regret of inaction would have crushed me more than any failure could.
The momentum I feel today is extraordinary. So is the adrenaline — I’ve slept horrendously the last handful of nights.
No one really knows how well their skills or gut hold up in a given situation. Still, I’ve learned that a willingness to work really, really hard can compensate for shortcomings in expertise, experience, or resources.
Being ambitious isn’t a perfect attribute, though there are none more reassuring when all you want to do is move mountains.
Join 2,000 readers to get these posts directly in your inbox.