How do you figure out if a chance is worth taking?

When you consider the word ‘risk’, what springs to mind? Bungee jumping off a perilous outcrop? Being in close quarters with a sick family member? Dabbling in stocks and shares? Perhaps risk carries a more personal meaning –a long-distance relationship built on trust or opening up when you need help.

However you feel about risk, it is inherent in every part of life. From the moment you wake up to the second your head touches the pillow, the day is filled with risk and opportunity, and the consequences of both. Some decisions will leave you with a knot in your stomach as you weigh up the possible outcomes of a risk taken over money or a relationship, while others slip by under the radar, almost undetected. An opportunity will come along that just feels right and the risks so minimal that they barely warrant a second thought, while at other times, deep thinking and a long list of pros and cons are required.

Risk defined

While risk means something different to everyone, there are, according to a host of psychologists from Carl Jung to Jean Piaget, specific parameters in its definition. The American Psychological Association offers two:

• ‘The probability or likelihood that a negative event will occur, such as the risk that a disease or disorder will develop.’