Roll the dice

It may be time to take a bet on yourself.

August 08, 2022

Hey there —

When was the last time you took a bet on yourself?

Whether it’s finally starting that side hustle, moving to Paris like you’ve always dreamed about, or asking out that cute barista…it’s scary to take a leap into the unknown.

When we’re contemplating a potentially life-changing risk, we tend to jump straight to the worst-case scenario.

🙅‍♀️ “What if my crush turns me down and blasts me for my cringe pick-up line in a viral TikTok?”

💸 “What if my business completely flops and I end up $30,000 in debt and living in my mom’s basement?”

🧟 “What if NYC turns out to be more like I Am Legend than my favorite episode of Friends!?”

Those fears come from a very real, primal part of our brain that tells us it’s unsafe to be excluded from the tribe (because we once risked being eaten alive by apex predators).

But, the reality is, in our modern society, most of us no longer deal with life-or-death stakes on a regular basis.

Often, the biggest risks we face are things like failure, judgment—from ourselves, or others—or negative criticism. While these things aren’t fun, they are survivable (despite what your panicking, t-rex envisioning brain tells you).

So, next time you’re tempted to hold back from taking a risk, ask yourself “What’s the worst that can happen?”

Or, take it a step further and do a ‘fear setting’ experiment, like entrepreneur Tim Ferris does each month.

The idea is to define the worst-case outcome in your scenario. And then to actively immerse yourself in that situation.

Say you’re worried about your business idea failing, and ending up with no money. You might assess your budget to determine which expenses are actually essential, and which you could live without (and then cancel all ten of your streaming services). Or practice living off $10 a day by eating simple and affordable foods.

Instead of letting fear stop you from rolling the dice, take a deep breath and an honest look at what you’re scared of.

Often, you’ll find that the “worst” is actually pretty tolerable…and that the extraordinary possibilities on the other side of your comfort zone are well worth the temporary discomfort.

The Six-Noodle Dice

Tool | by Casey Baseel

Speaking of rolling the dice…One of the best ways to get comfy with risk is to let fate decide in low-stake situations.

But what do you do when you have multiple options that can’t be decided with a coin flip? Japanese artist Kanaiga has invented a genius solution: the six-noodle dice.

Not only is there a genre-determining dice to choose your noodle (Ramen? Udon? Soba?), but each type has its own corresponding dice with various cooking styles.

It’s like a ‘choose-your-own-adventure’ that ends the “What do you want for dinner?” debate! Now, where do we get customized dice for the rest of our life decisions?

Building a Career From Different Income Streams

Article | by Anne Ditmeyer

Do you get caught like a deer in the headlights whenever someone asks “So, what do you do?”

If you’re not sure whether to mention your full-time job, freelance gig, or your side hustle (because you struggle to put yourself in one career box), you may be part of a growing wave in the workforce called the “portfolio professional.”

In this article, Anne Ditmeyer profiles the ‘full-stack freelancers’ and multipassionate careerists who are layering multiple income streams like freelancing, consulting, coaching, courses and speaking to form one very generous income pie.

Centered

Tool | by Centered

Enjoy working from home, but also kinda need some background noise to get things done?

You may benefit from getting Centered (literally).

In their on-demand work sessions, this productivity app combines the feeling of people working around you (mics off, cameras optional) with a flow-inducing soundtrack to help you get stuff done.

The result is the accountability of a study group combined with the ambience of a coffee shop — and you don’t even have to tip the barista!

Written by Emma Norris