The Risk Management Guide to LOVE

Ok, I have so many people asking me what is it that I really do. I manage risks, duh. Even people in my company and division don’t know what I do! Problem is, I don’t really know how to explain it to them, so I start making them blur and end up paiseh-ing myself.

So here goes, to explain the concept of Risk Management (RM) I’m using one of the most universal examples: LOVE.

Step One: Identify the scope of the project
In this case is falling in love and whether to enter a relationship with tt special person. Being in r/s and it working out or not is not in the scope, so I shall not elaborate, and anyway there are different set of risks which then makes it super complicated to explain.

Step Two: Identify the benefits of the project
1) The benefits of couple-dom: don't ever need to have to find excuses to go out with tt person w/o sounding daft or desperate. No more lonely weekends/holiday seasons.
2) At the end of a particularly hard day, there's always someone to sayang you and hug you and kiss you to make you feel better...
3) In the process of being in r/s with tt person, you get to know him/her more, and also get to know urself more... and who knows, he/she may be THE ONE
4) You have something to tell your nosy relatives when they ask you why you aren't married yet (at least you're getting there)
The list is of course, not exhaustive. There are a million other reasons why people should fall in love, but I shan't go into details.

Step Three: Identify the risks of the project
1) He/she may end up to be a jerk/bitch. A horrible monster who you can't live with. Sweet while dating but suddenly morphing to a jealous/neurotic/overpossesive/selfish/mummy's boy person. AND ends up treating you like shit. And dumping you and what not.
2) After being a jerk/bitch and dumping you, you have to deal with all the emotions: sadness, loneliness, self-doubt (am i not good/pretty/thin/smart enough?), self-pity (ditto), anger, etc. AND friends who didn't know better might unintentionally rub it in esp if they didn't know that the r/s has ended.
3) Waste time/effort/emotions on someone who's totally not worth it, when you could have spent all that time and effort doing charity work/studying hard and doing well in sch/working hard and advancing in your career.
Again, unexhaustive. All in all, the ultimate detrimental effect is the break-up.

Step Four: Risk Control
Split into two wide categories: prevention and mitigation.
Prevention: actions to prevent the break-up. E.g. getting to know the person alot better before getting into the relationship, not taking him/her for granted, always showing that you care, making the effort to know his/her family and friends. You can also prevent getting hurt by not investing that much emotions in the r/s (i highly don't reccommend this)

Mitigation: actions to lessen the effects of the break-up. E.g. Hang out with good friends, learning a new hobby/sport, going out to know new people, not wallow in self pity and doubt etc.

Step Five: Overall Analysis
Weighing the benefits and the risks and after taking into account the steps you could take to prevent the risk event from occuring, make a decision whether this person is worth all this effort. Falling in love is a big gamble cos you might end up losing more than you win.

But remember: if you wanna be 100% safe, don't fly.