There are several kinds of moonshot bets one can make, each fitting different stage of life and in different circumstances. Never be afraid to chart your own path and design the type of moonshot bets you’d like to take, you know your circumstances and risk appetite the best. Mentorship is essential, have more than 1 and observe their actions, understand the rationale of those actions, take in those learnings but act for yourself. Mentoring can take several forms, 1 to 1 mentoring, observing them from afar (I know you, you don’t know me kind), reading their autobiographies, etc. This could go a long way in encouraging you to take the first step out of your comfort zone.
Taking the decision to be an entrepreneur, pursuing your passion, drastic career switch, going in big(investing) in something that the mainstream do not believe in, or having full conviction on a contrarian idea are some examples of moonshot bets that one can take. Taking moonshot bets is not an excuse for taking risks blindly, but making an informed decision with as much information one can gather from different sources. It seems easy as we describe about moonshot projects, but hard to commit into one due to the following factors.
- The conviction (guts) to commit into something that you and/or the wider community do not have a lot of information on. Its definitely a daunting position to be in, but there are ways to overcome it. Such as through acquiring more knowledge on the subject matter, fine tune your mentality for greater risk threshold, or build a safety net prior to taking the plunge.
- Having sufficient capital to take on the moonshot bet, this could be anywhere from a couple of thousands (investing in a stock nobody believes in) to billions of dollars(building reusable rockets). To each its own, depending on circumstances and types of moonshot bets, capital requirement is different, and in today’s environment capital is one of the easiest to acquire. Through sheer hardwork and savings, one can accumulate enough capital to start a small business, pursue your passion for a period of time, or to start an initiative that you’re passionate about. Alternatively, there are abundant of risk capital available in the market, and if you’re pursuing a capital intensive moonshot bet, they are the ones you should approach. Never allow the lack of capital be the reason for you to give up on your moonshot bets.
- The vision to identify potential moonshot bets that you should be taking. This either requires deep domain expertise or genuine passion for the subject matter and can be acquired through years of being the top in your field. This is a double edged sword, as nobody knows the ultimate outcome of your vision, and by pursuing it relentlessly could result in an endless rabbit hole. Have adequate self-awareness to know when to pull the plug and when to double down. Strong opinions loosely held are the way to go.
- The access to moonshot projects matters, and most often than not the lack of access to quality ones makes a difference to one’s lifetime success. Not all quality projects needs to be started by you, by joining one allows you to ride the momentum and come out on the other side. Gaining access to these quality projects is crucial, you can definitely hustle your way into one, so don’t give up!
It takes time, hardwork, mentorship to overcome each of the factors mentioned above, not taking into account that the probability of failure in these moonshot bets are high! Therefore its really tough to get out of mediocrity, but nevertheless if you don’t give it a shot, you’ll never know!
