In December of 2023, a friend showed me a website he had built for a company called ‘SF’. Here’s what our exchange looked like briefly.

Friend: shows website

Khyatt: This is nice, what do they do?

Friend: Nothing. They don’t exist.

Khyatt: What?

Friend: Yes I picked out a template and made this, called the company ‘SF’. We can tell people this is our company and that we do marketing and see if anyone bites. I’m here for the next 2 months, maybe we can get a project or something. 

Khyatt: Uh….sure. 

The next day we were out knocking on the doors of local businesses, trying to convince them we did marketing and social media by showing them our website.

That was how my company was born. 

Just one, impulsive 'yes' snowballed into hundreds of life changing benefits. Money, opportunities, network, learnings, skills, stories, experiences, and much more.

I was suddenly reminded of this story by a line towards the end of the new mission impossible movie.

“Our lives are not defined by any one action. Our lives are the sum of our choices.”

I don't think many of you truly realise what this really means.

Our lives are the sum of the choices we make.

Wherever you are right now, is a result of the thousands of tiny choices you made along the way.

This theme plays out all along your life.

But why do some people consistently make better choices, whereas some struggle all along?

Here's what I've learnt. The choices we make are driven by how we approach life.

There's two broad approaches. Read along and ask yourself which one are you?

— » Link to Communication Powerhouse

Dissecting the choice:

Every time you are faced with a choice, there's two parts to it. Risk and opportunity. They always co exist.

ALWAYS.

If there were no risk, everyone would be doing it, and hence there would be no opportunity.

Because there's two sides to every choice, there's two types of people.

Most of you are the first type. Be brutally honest with yourself, do not sugarcoat things.

That's the only way you can get better.

1) Those who see risk:

These are the people who will see the risk first. They know there's an opportunity as well. But to them the risk outweighs any opportunity.

These people will always be on the defence.

When faced with a choice, they will take the option with lesser risk attached.

• To start a business or not?

• To quit the job or not?

• To drop out or not?

• To ask the girl or not?

• To buy the course or not?

  For this first type of people, the answer will always be no.

"Because what if it doesn't work out? And I lose money? And time? And what will people think? "

2) The ones who see opportunity:

These are the people who see the opportunity first. They are always on the offence.

These people always take decision where they can maximise their upside.

So every time they are faced with a choice, they choose the option where they have the possibility of winning. Even if it's small.

They say yes more often.

The second type of people, always end up making the better choices, and becoming more successful than the first type.

The question then becomes, how do I go from being the first type to the second type? How do I make better choices, and consequently lead a better life?

By understanding this one crucial fact.

Not all actions are created equal.

This could be one of the biggest unlocks of your life.

Some actions, create linear returns. Like you go out fro dinner to a nice place, and you end up having a good time.

Effort matches results. That's linear returns.

But some actions, create outsized returns. For example,

• The girl you go and talk to in the canteen today could one day be the girl you marry

• The business idea that you discuss with a friend today, could make you millions of dollars

• The one cold dm you send might lead to an opportunity that changes your life

• The one investment you make today could pay off your entire life 10 years from now

Small effort. But incredible, life changing results. This is outsized returns.

Most people take the choices in their life lightly because they don't understand this. They treat all actions and choices as the same.

Here's a quote from Jeff Bezos that brilliantly captures the essence of this discussion.

"Outsized returns often come from betting against conventional wisdom, and conventional wisdom is usually right. Given a ten percent chance of a one hundred times payoff, you should take that bet every time."

— Jeff Bezos

It comes down to very simple arithmetic. The people who understand outsized returns, say yes to most things.

This means they have more attempts. And each attempt, comes with a possibility of outsized returns.

Even though they miss 9 out of 10, the one that they do hit, more than covers for the 9 misses. But you need to have the heart to miss and then be ready to swing again.

• I started a podcast in 2020 that went nowhere

• I tried to start 3 businesses that never went off the ground.

• I learnt 10s of skills that never paid me a single rupee.

• I had 100s of meetings that never resulted in anything.

• I lost money on almost all initial investments

You have to become this person.

Take each choice you face with the utmost sincerity. Instead of asking yourself "what if this doesn't work out?", ask yourself,

"What if I never try and it could have worked out?"

It's all a matter of perspective at the end of the day.

Take the risk, do not fear failure, understand outsized returns, make the right choices, and watch your life change.

Until next time,

— Khyatt