How to push boundaries while avoiding burnout. First, understand that not every risk is worth taking. So you must ... 1. Define Risks: Know what you can lose and what you’ll gain. 2. Plan Smart: Break goals into steps and test bold ideas on a small scale. 3. Spot Safety Nets: Rank potential risks and build backup plans. 4. Measure and Adjust: Track progress and pivot if needed. Be careful of the sunk cost fallacy. 5. See Failure as Growth: Treat every setback as a stepping stone to success. What did you learn? How could you have designed for greater success? 6. Lean on Others: Get advice from mentors or peers to garner wisdom and catch blind spots. 7. Stay Energized: Block distractions, recharge often, and celebrate small wins.

Failure is essential to learning and success. We need to admit failure and learn from it. We need to be able to fail safely and cheaply. So, if balance between risk taking and failure exists, the balance should change over time. We will fail originally, so we should take moderate risk, and learn as much as we can from the failure. We experiment again and if it looks like success, we can increase risk, and we will fail again. But this time, we are doing better: we are growing. This is all captured by Samuel Beckett in his twelve-word poem: Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better. This is why I wrote it by hand on the wall of my laboratory.

El equilibrio entre asumir riesgos y manejar el fracaso es clave para el crecimiento profesional. Me esfuerzo por superar los límites de mi trabajo, ya que sé que la innovación y el progreso requieren audacia. Sin embargo, reconozco que el fracaso es una parte inevitable del proceso, y lo veo como una oportunidad de aprendizaje. Enfrentar un fracaso no es un obstáculo, sino una señal de que hay aspectos que puedo mejorar o ajustar. Cada desafío me permite aprender, crecer y avanzar con más conocimiento y confianza, lo que me impulsa a seguir innovando y mejorando continuamente.

No ambiente de trabalho, os riscos estão sempre presentes, especialmente em atividades de manutenção. Para gerenciá-los eficazmente, é crucial avaliar e equilibrar os impactos das mudanças nos métodos de trabalho, considerando tanto os benefícios esperados para a produtividade quanto os possíveis prejuízos caso os resultados não sejam alcançados. Erros devem ser encarados como oportunidades de aprendizado, enquanto conquistas impulsionam a melhoria contínua. Assim, decisões responsáveis podem ser tomadas, equilibrando riscos e objetivos, para promover avanços sustentáveis. Sempre busco a melhoria do meu processo, e sempre tenho que assumir alguns riscos no dia a dia, mas tudo de maneira planejada e responsável.

Think of the risk holistically. That means assess failure not only from your company perspective but also from your team’s perspective (what is their risk threshold that will allow them to take them and stay motivated/productive?), the relationship with failure of the country/countries you’re creating this project for (risk/taking is very unique to each culture), and how much “cushion” you have that will allow you a bigger or smaller wiggle room (am I prepared for surviving a bad time if this project fails? For how long? What about the team’s stability?).

Taking risks can feel intimidating, but if you approach them in a way that feels manageable, they can lead to meaningful growth. Here are some tips: - Try your idea in a smaller, low-pressure situation to see how it works. - Treat mistakes as part of the learning process, just like practicing a new skill. - Be clear about what you’re okay with losing—time, money, or just stepping out of your comfort zone. - Always have a backup plan ready in case things don’t work out. - Look for small successes even if the overall outcome isn’t perfect, and build on those.