Will I regret this decision when I die?
You have many ideas that come to your mind daily, and you have decisions to make. 99.99% of all decisions you will take in your life are obvious. Examples of such simple decisions: when should you go for a run, what to cook for dinner or what to put on your playlist. These decisions matter but making the wrong decision for a few of them is not a big deal (e.g., cooking fish instead of chicken is very unlikely to change your life).
The remaining 0.01% of your decisions are important and life-changing ones. Like in a video game, where a decision changes the outcome (and ending) completely, such decisions will impact the trajectory of your life and are hardly reversible. Examples of such decisions: what college you should attend, what partner to marry, and what career path to choose.
Such decisions are hard to make. Before I arrived in the US, I decided to take the default and easy option that reduces the potential downsides, risks, and pain. Instead of taking risks and following the path I wanted, I minimized the risks and the potential pain I may have to go through. But the reality is that after a few months, I always regretted not trying the hard path, the one I really wanted. And for some of these decisions, I knew I will regret them until I die.
Instead of limiting risks, I started to limit regrets.
When death comes to us, we will face our judgment if we lived a fulfilling life. Each of us will have to answer according to our own moral compass and measure of success. The only wish I have is to have as few regrets as possible. The number of success or failures do not matter: when this day comes, I want to think it was a wild ride worth it.
Since then, I have taken more risks. I changed careers to move to big tech and changed companies instead of staying in what I saw as a comfy job in academia. I started to speak my mind instead of following the politically-correct corporate language (and often with consequences). I left the “dream” life in California with a job paying more than half-million dollars to start my own company and have no salary. Many of these decisions incurred some hardships and pains. But I regret nothing: it was all worth it.
I do not want to die as a man full of regrets. I want to take risks and follow what excites me the most. In the end, it will all be worth it.