Understanding Risk Taking

Studies suggest that an average adult makes many thousand decisions in a day. As soon as we wake up, our brains begin to assess every single situation that takes place in our daily lives. One study in particular suggests that around 200 of these decisions are centered on food alone. There’s no guessing then that some of these decisions come with greater ramifications than others and greater risks.

Humans and Risk Taking

Money makes the world go round – be it in stocks, mortgage, or loans. There is a major difference between choosing which stock to invest in and which cheese dip to get to for the kitchen shelf. When it comes to finance calculating, neutralizing risks through assessment is at the foundation of entire careers.

Risk taking is at the center of entire industries such as the gambling industry which is valued as a multibillion dollar industry that keeps growing exponentially every year. On popular casino websites such as Lucky Nugget casino NZ review the basic principle of risk and reward is what attracts people to some of their most popular games, be it slots to classic table titles.

When we take risks and they pay off, our brains release dopamine – a feel-good drug- as a reward. This is the reasons why people love playing these games, and the more extreme the games, the bigger the reward. In extreme sports for example, people get a dopamine kick that is 10 times more powerful because of the high risks involved therein.

The strategies implemented by stockbrokers work to counter as well as to embrace risks. Similarly, the best poker players in the world have been shown to be capable of tackling high risk games.

In a study conducted in 2019, the best poker players were documented. In it they were observed to play only a few hands – which is also known as ‘tight playing’. In other words, they have a reasonable understanding of which hands to play depending on their assessment of the risks.

Another study, this time conducted on stockbrokers, documented how professional stockbrokers had built up tolerance to extreme risks. This is, in a way, a modification made by their brains in order to stay competitive and assert their risk-taking behavior which was higher than most people in the globe.

It becomes clear then that the professionals have a way to handle both little and high risk situations through their natural tendencies. But is it possible to apply these strategies to one’s own life. Actually, yes, and doing so is actually simpler than you think.

Risk Assessment And Application In Your Own Life

The average Joe doesn’t have to put his life on the line to play million-dollar poker games. He doesn’t even need to deal with the stock market either. Nevertheless, our understanding of the professionals indicates that our daily risky decisions can still be informed and calculated.

The name of the game is ‘Research’. Understand the ramifications of both success and failure and let that decide whether or not the risk is worth taking. Human beings aren’t purely rational creatures. In fact, we are hardly ever rational. But doing one’s research beforehand can allow one to understand the ins and outs and better prepare oneself to focus on the rational aspects of the decisions.

There is hardly a person who never has to take risk in one’s life. Risks are also relative from one person to another. What may be risky for one could be a walk in the park for another. We cannot ignore taking risks. Instead, we can learn how to take informed risks. Knowing that the risks exist is half the battle won in most cases. The rest will be learnt in time.