The original lead singer of the band AC/DC was named Bon Scott. (fun fact, I had a buddy call me Bon Scott all through high school) Anyways, Bon Scott died in 1980 at the young age of 33 years old after a wild night out drinking and partying. He essentially died of acute alcohol poisoning, but he was in London when it happened and the British have a fancy little term for what happens when someone parties their ass off and doesn't live to tell about it.
Death by misadventure is a term they use in the United Kingdom for when someone voluntarily takes too much risk and ultimately passes away. Formally, it's stated like this: "Misadventure may be the right conclusion when a death arises from some deliberate human act which unexpectedly and unintentionally goes wrong."
As a rockstar, it sounds like the stereotypical way to go.
"What happened to Bon? He died by misadventure."
"Of course he did, what a wild bastard!"
Death by misadventure may sound like a fascinating and entertaining way to go out, but the goal is to party, live a wild life, have fun, and do everything a lead singer in a rock band would do, and still live to tell about it. Unfortunately for Bon Scott, that was the end of the journey.
Career by misadventure should be a fun little way we talk about taking risks that ultimately lead to wins and or losses. After all, we only live once so why not take some wild years to chase dreams, do big shit, and see what happens.
What's the worst that's going to happen?
We are wired to play it so freaking safe and it's ridiculous. We would rather work each year for a 3% pay raise rather than take a risk to start our own business which could give us a 3000% pay raise. Sure, it may not work out, but it could, and how happy would you be then when it did?
The problem is that most of us have been conditioned to believe that stability is the ultimate goal, and that anything outside of that narrow lane is reckless or irresponsible. Somewhere along the way we started believing that the smartest move in life is to quietly stay inside the lines, keep the job, take the annual raise, nod along in meetings, and repeat the same routine year after year while hoping that somehow excitement and fulfillment magically appear along the way.
The reality is that very few memorable stories start with someone saying they carefully followed the safest possible plan.
If you look at almost anyone who has done something interesting with their career, you will usually find a stretch of years that could easily be labeled as their own version of career misadventure.
Maybe they left a comfortable job to try something uncertain, maybe they moved across the country without knowing anyone, or maybe they started something that failed spectacularly before they figured out what actually worked. None of those moments look impressive when you are living through them, but in hindsight they often become the exact experiences that shaped the person into someone capable of doing something bigger later on.
The irony is that the people who avoid risk at all costs often end up with the exact outcome they were hoping to avoid, which is the slow creeping feeling that their career never really went anywhere exciting in the first place. Playing it safe might protect you from embarrassment or failure in the short term, but it also protects you from discovery, opportunity, and the kind of growth that only shows up when you put yourself in uncomfortable situations.
You cannot expect a wild and fulfilling career if every decision you make is built around minimizing the possibility of something going wrong.
So maybe the goal is not to avoid misadventure altogether, but to collect a few stories along the way that make the journey worthwhile. Take the job that scares you a little bit, try the idea that people around you think is unrealistic, or chase the opportunity that feels just slightly out of reach. If it works, you might end up building something extraordinary, and if it doesn't, you will still walk away with the experience, the lessons, and a story that beats the hell out of telling people you spent thirty years hoping your next raise would finally make work interesting.
After all, what's life without a few misadventures?