In the movie The Dark Knight Rises, there is a scene where Bruce Wayne (Batman) is trying to escape from a prison that requires climbing and jumping out from a deep, dark hole. For safety, he is fitted with a rope that will catch him if he falls. Every time he tries to make the final jump to climb out of the hole, he fails, and the rope catches him as he falls. Finally though, he attempts the jump without the safety rope attached. This is a very risk move, because failing the jump would mean a long fall to his probable death. However, unencumbered by the safety rope, he makes the jump successfully and escapes from the prison.
This scene can in some ways be a metaphor for challenges that we all may face in life. Sometimes you have to let go of the safety, take a risk, in order to accomplish your goal – whether that be Bruce Wayne attempting to escape from a prison hole, or a person in real life starting a business or a new career. Ships are safe in harbor, but that is not what they were built for. Now admittedly, foolhardy risks with a low chance of success or safety should probably be avoided for the most part, but some risk will always be necessary if you want to achieve truly high-minded goals.
In the TV show Star Trek: The Next Generation, there is an episode where Captain Picard’s life has changed such that he is a junior officer in astrometrics rather than a captain in command of a starship. Commander Riker is counseling him about his career and says “If you want to get ahead, you’ve got to take risks.” Life is like that – not just in science fiction, not just in the superhero universe, but in the real world as well.
From Fiction to Real Life Risks
A few years ago I was working full-time as an engineer while tutoring as a side-hustle. I knew I enjoyed tutoring students more than I enjoyed working the lab as an engineer, but working full-time, with a long commute to and from work, limited my available hours on weekdays for tutoring, with the result that I only had a few hours of earning tutoring income each week. Although I often day-dreamed about teaching/tutoring full-time after retiring from an engineering career, there was no safe way to transition into tutoring full-time because my tutoring income was NEVER going to grow enough to be sustainable if 40+ hours per week (and also add the commute time) was occupied by a full-time engineering job.
The only way I was ever going to be truly successful as a private tutor and solo entrepreneur would be to quit my engineering job and go all in on private tutoring. Was I scared? Absolutely. I have a wife and child to provide for, in addition to covering my own expenses. The steady salary from engineering was very seductive for a husband and father trying to get by and provide. Ultimately, working for that engineering firm became painful enough that I finally pulled the trigger, quit my engineering job, and went all in to focus on tutoring and growing my tutoring business. I am happy to report that, although my tutoring income has not yet caught up to what I was earning as an engineer, growth in the last year has been impressive – comparing my best month so far in 2025 with the same month in 2024, year on year the tutoring income increased over 100%. So there is at least some hope at the end of the tunnel.
And that is the way life is sometimes, we have to be willing to forge ahead and take risks if we ever hope to succeed and achieve our dreams, instead of leading a life of quiet desperation the way that most people do. Studies indicate that approximately 85% of working people do not enjoy their jobs. Wouldn’t it be great to be part of the minority who actually enjoys the profession that earns money for you and your family? Why not you?
Whether you take the risk to pursue a professional athletic career instead of the safe path of studying to be a doctor or physical therapist; whether you take the risk to marry a spouse you truly love and care for, rather than the safe path of someone stable with money and connections; whether you take the risk to pursue a career as a soldier or police officer or firefighter instead of the safe path of the corporate world of cubicles and PowerPointe slides – truly achieving self-actualization and professional and personal satisfaction will always require some degree of risk. You might think you cannot afford to take that risk, but can you afford NOT to take the risk, with the result being a life of desperation and misery? Failing at something while daring greatly is far better than never trying at all.
What do you think? Please leave comment below. Thanks for reading.