The Risk That Changes Everything: Why Starting Over Is the Real Test of Confidence
What happens when you leave everything you’ve built behind? Two men who did exactly that share what it really means to walk away from stability and bet on yourself.
By
Josh Felgoise, Host of Guyset Podcast
Nov 4, 2025
There’s a quiet moment before every major risk where your life still feels familiar. You haven’t jumped yet, but you know you’re about to. It’s the edge of something bigger, that mix of fear and excitement you can’t explain.
For Simon Gervais, that edge was leaving a government job most people would dream of. He had a six-figure salary, purpose, and the kind of career that came with security. Then he walked away.
He’d spent years working in counterterrorism, protecting world leaders like Queen Elizabeth II and President Obama. But he couldn’t ignore the pull toward something riskier.
“Until 2014 I was an RCMP officer making a six-digit salary. I really believed in what I was doing. It took me seven years to write my first novel, and when I signed a contract, I had another book due a year later. I told my wife I wanted to try it full-time, and she said absolutely.”
That single decision rewrote everything. No backup plan. No certainty. Just belief.
The Leap No One Sees
Ryan Steck’s version of the leap looked different but felt the same. For ten years he had been the guy behind the curtain, The Real Book Spy, reviewing thrillers for the biggest authors in the world. He was the one giving out critiques, not writing the stories.
But eventually he couldn’t shake the thought that maybe he was meant to create, not just comment. “You have your whole life to write your first book and one year to write your second,” he said once, remembering the moment everything shifted. The pressure of expectations hit fast. Everyone who knew him as the critic expected perfection from his first draft. There was no room to stumble, no space to learn in public.
He did it anyway.
That’s the part of risk people never see. They see the announcement, the book deal, the new job title. They don’t see the long nights when you wonder if you just made the biggest mistake of your life.
Discipline Over Doubt
Both Simon and Ryan built their new careers on discipline. Not motivation. Not luck. Discipline.
“I’m not lazy. Whatever I need to do to get to my objective, I will do. It doesn’t matter if I’m at the end of a deadline and need to work twenty-hour days. I still push myself to the maximum because I want to succeed in every field I work in.”
That’s the kind of mindset that makes reinvention possible. You can’t fake it. You earn it by showing up when no one’s watching.
Ryan has his own version of that truth.
“You can always edit bad pages. You just can’t edit blank pages.” It’s the kind of line that sticks with you because it’s bigger than writing. It’s about life. You can’t edit what you never start.
When the fear of starting over kicks in, it helps to remember that. You don’t need to be fearless. You just need to move.
If you’re in that space, start here: How to Build Confidence from Scratch.
Climbing One Mountain, Finding Another
Success doesn’t end the pressure. It just changes it.
“When you’re at the top of the pyramid, it’s a fight to stay there,” Simon told me during our talk. “There are ten thousand people who want your spot. You need to keep doing what you do to the best of your ability.”
That line hit me because it applies to everything, not just publishing. Every guy who’s ever chased a goal knows what it feels like to finally hit it, only to realize the finish line moved. You climb one mountain, and suddenly you’re standing at the bottom of the next.
Ryan described it best, finishing a book, handing it in, and realizing the next one is due before you can even celebrate.
“It’s like you just climbed Everest and then blinked and you’re back at the bottom. You don’t even get to come down. You just have to climb again.”
That’s the hidden part of success nobody warns you about. Getting there isn’t the hardest part. Staying there is.
If that line resonates, read What to Do When You Feel Lost in Your Career.
Why This Episode Matters
This story isn’t about writing. It’s about risk, reinvention, and the discipline to keep going when no one’s cheering.
The moment you stop settling for safety, you start living with intention. That’s when you learn what confidence actually feels like. Not the loud kind. The quiet, grounded kind that comes from doing something that might not work, and doing it anyway.
To dig deeper into the episode, read the 7 Lessons Post or explore the Practical Q&A for actionable takeaways on how to know when it’s time to make your own leap.
And if you missed the full conversation, it’s here: From Bodyguard to Bestseller: What It Takes to Walk Away and Start Over.
🧩 From the Guyset World
If this story hit home, you’ll want to keep reading:
Reinvention isn’t about throwing your old life away. It’s about creating a new one with the lessons you earned. Simon Gervais and Ryan Steck both learned that the risk itself is the reward. The leap is what sharpens you. The climb is what builds you.
