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Comment by will_pseudonym | Hacker News Reader

Can't remember where I picked this up, but this has been a good mental model for me for understanding the dimensions of this problem of picking what I should pursue in my career & life. It's a riff on "Good, Cheap, or Fast. Pick two."

  * Low Risk
  * Low Stress
  * High Reward.

Pick two.

It seems less down to choice than personality in terms of which two you personally should choose, but understanding the tradeoffs you're making is a good thing regardless.

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To me this seems overly simplified. I'm sure there are other situations. I.e. I'm sure sometimes it's "pick three", "pick one", "you don't get to choose", or even "pick none".

And also, if you get a choice of "pick two", you could also: "pick one, balance the other two", "balance all three", etc.

Finally, high risk seems tied to high stress, as also mentioned in sibling comment [1].

[1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25875828

I'm not following this one. Wouldn't something that's high reward and low risk also be low stress?

I'm trying to envision something that's high reward and high risk, and isn't stressful.

I could see truth in the sentiment that if you're receiving high reward, stress and risk are inversely correlated. e.g. if you're working at FAANG, and not working hard enough to be stressed, you're at risk of being fired. Or you're working hard enough to be stressed and therefor have low risk.

A 40-hour a week job jumped to mind for me when I read this. Steady salary without too much risk (if you have decent job security), but half your waking hours during the week and stress that comes with that.

I think I follow but I'm not sure this is correct. Looks like you're saying that jobs with steady salary and job security are stressful. What would be a less stressful alternative?

A low-stakes job at a startup where the bulk of your compensation is equity maybe? Though that situation probably wouldn't stay low-stress for long, as you'll want to do everything you can to make those stocks valuable...

I'd say something like becoming a plumber satisfies that: it's hard, gross work, but it pays well and absent a breakthrough in robotics, I think has a low risk of disappearing as a career.

Rephrased slightly, Low Risk + High Reward seems to me to imply Low Stress, not High Stress.

this is sincerely ingenious. so simple and yet so meaningful.

for a long time I've dabbled on "low risk + low stress" and the new me is trying to go to the 'high reward' mode but yeah, something is got to give.

I basically went from a government worker to an entrepreneur so basically from one side of the low risk of the spectrum to the other. needless to say ,things have been stressful :)

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