Mama Told Me Not to Look into the Sights of the Sun

This is either my worst headline ever, or a quick way to get many of you to understand a complicated idea: in a career and life, we are forever balancing excitement and danger.

As Bruce Springsteen sings:

Mama always told me not to look into the sights of the sun... Oh, but mama... That’s where the fun is…”

Literally freezing on a chairlift the other day, with the temperature hovering around zero fahrenheit and the wind howling around 30 mph, it occurred to me that people have vastly different thresholds for excitement.

Much as I love sitting in a chair and writing, if I don't get outdoors regularly, I go crazy. Yes, in a bizarre way, trying not to freeze to death recharges my batteries. It is a physical challenge that makes me feel good when I tire of too many intellectual ones.

On any given day, I receive notes from people who take too little risk, and are stuck. I also hear from people who are taking too many risks, and are lost.

Of course, we all admit the people who took huge risks and won, but there are only twelve such people, so I don't spend too much time trying to emulate them.

Instead, I try to understand each person's Excitement-Danger Index (let me call it EDI, just to make ti sound official). You'd be well-advised to think about this in personal terms:

How much excitement do you need, and how much danger can you tolerate?

For example, I am very happy taking controlled risks, such as venturing outdoors in extreme conditions, but only within the boundaries of major ski areas; you won't catch me trying to summit Everest.

If you feel bored or restless, it may be because your EDI has shrunk too much from the days of your youth.

• How many weeks (years?) has it been since you made a bold proposal to your boss?
• Have you volunteered to lead a risky project?
• Have you expressed an interest in a job that might seem out of your grasp?
• Will you give up sleep to acquire new skills?
• Do you push your body physically, to give your head room to clear?
• Are you willing to be silent longer than is comfortable, to allow new ideas and perspectives to challenge your comfort zone?

If you want an exciting career, you have to take risk. It's that simple. But when you study the people who take risk for a living, you realize they don't take as many risks as it seems. Professional risk-takers are always balancing risks with all sorts of options, and with a heavy emphasis on planning and preparation.

So don't rush headlong into danger, just to enliven your career. Instead, slightly bump up - or down - your excitement and danger boundaries. It won't take much to make a noticeable difference.

Bruce Kasanoff is a ghostwriter for entrepreneurs. Learn more at Kasanoff.com. He is the author of How to Self-Promote without Being a Jerk, which highlights the power of helping others... before you help yourself.