How to get better at taking risks

How to get better at taking risksRisk is scary. Everything in human history has evolved to make us scared of risk. After all, time has taught us that risks can get you eaten by animals in the wild, or have you holding your head in despair while the stock market (with your bold investment in ostrich futures) tanks. googletag.cmd.push(function() googletag.display(div-gpt-ad-1467144145037-0) ) But risk can also be rewarding when it comes to your career. If you feel like you could use a little more bravery, there are ways to rewire your thinking to make yourself more open to risk. Nothing too bold or daredevil-y (for now), thoughwell leave that to Richard Branson.Set your goals.The most effective risk-taking is tied to specific goals. Youre notlage doing something just for the sake of doing it, but rather to learn something, or overcome a particular issue, or advance to a milestone. If you want to start embracing more risks in order to improve your job position or your pay grade, it sta rts with clearly defining your career goals. If it means starting your own business, or going freelance after being a full-time corporate worker, its important to keep in mind that your ultimate goal is independence. As long as you have that goal in your head as the end result, it can make big jumps (like quitting your day job) easier to do.Do your research.Data makes you feel better. If youre thinking about switching jobs or changing careers altogether, the best thing you can do to validate the risk is gather as much information as you can. If youre thinking about making a significant investment and going back to school, what are the job stats for new graduates in your field? If youre thinking about asking for a raise, what are people at your level in your field making? It can also help you make an informed decision to walk away from the risk, tooits not just about talking yourself into doing something, but about understanding what youre about to do.Start small.Even with your big g oals in mind, set smaller milestones (and therefore smaller risks) to check off along the way. That way, youre not going all-in on something that feels big and scary because youve already made progress and smaller commitments toward that goal. For example, if youre thinking of starting your own business, begin by opening a business bank account or getting the paperwork started for an LLC. Those are significant steps, but not so frightening in and of themselves.Dont worry about being perfect.If youre taking a risk, you might think everything has to align perfectly for it to be successful. Not so Taking action is the truly important part. Hesitation over results can stop recovering perfectionists and overachievers in their steps. In the worst case scenario, youll failbut at least youll have tried and learned valuable lessons about what works and what doesnt.Risks dont have to be grand gestures that change everything forever. A risk can be something as simple as doing something out of your comfort zone. As long as you have a purpose and a plan behind you, youll find that taking risks isnt so scary after alland realize its something we can all learn to do smarter.

New Research Shows 18 Year Olds Are Becoming More Not Less Sexist

New Research Shows 18 Year Olds Are Becoming More Not Less Sexist Theres a lot of reason to be optimistic about gender equality. While the numbers offemale CEOsis still dismal, the number of women earning college and advanced degrees outpaces men, we have record number of women running for political office these days and the level of awareness and public discourse around feminism andgender equalityin the workplace feels like its never been higher.But while much hope has been pinned on the next generation ofmillennial men and women,researchreleased last week from the Council on Contemporary Families shows that attitudes among young people have become increasingly macker since the late 90s when their attitudes were most egalitarian.Specifically, since 1994, Council on Contemporary Families Director of Research, Stephanie Coontzwrites in the New York Timesthat the percentage of high school seniors who say that they think that the best family was one where the man was the main income e arner and the woman took care of the home rose from 42% to 58% in 2014. Moreover, 40% say they believe that the husband should make all the important decisions in the family in 2014 versus 30% a decade earlier.The only thing more discouraging than this is to learn thatseparate researchby the saatkorn organization found the same increase in sexist and traditional views of family gender roles in the past decade. In particular, they found that in 2014, 45% of men and 28% of women reported thinking a male-breadwinning family was the superior outcome, compared to only 17% of men and 15% of women in 1994. Thats a huge increase in the number of young men who believe they should be the primary earner in the family.The obvious question this raises is, why? Is there something about spending time onSnapchatthat makes teenagers more apt to believe that men and women should hold traditional roles at home and in the workplace? Or is it that they are the offspring of families withworking momsand d ads, and somehow feel they have been maligned as a consequence? Was it a backlash to the witnessed loss of traditional male financial, household control after the devastating job losses of the Great Recession? And is this simply something that will change as they age and become older and wiser?Coontz, noted that older millennials (men and women), too, seemed uncomfortable with the notion of a female Commander-in-Chief. According toexit poll datain the last U.S. President election, millennials just didnt turn out for Hillary Clinton. Were not sociologists but we are very, very worried about what this new data suggests. If women and men have to fight an ideological battleground in their future homes, this means a long road for women to getting to 50/50 parity at the top of corporations and governments.