Why Embracing Uncertainty Is Critical To Your Success

Lolly, once again I feel like you are tapped into the truth I need to hear and embrace in my professional life and personal experiences – right now, today. I get so busy taking care of others that I forget to give myself permission to not be in control of – everything. I will keep your words on ‘How to handle uncertainty?” posted nearby and reflect on them often. Also, in my coaching business I work with people who are feeling a great deal of uncertainty. Sometimes the greatest leaps forward come right after a client has accepted uncertainty and uses it as a window of possibilities, rather than fighting to keep uncertainty at bay. I will share this post with others. Thank you for being a blessing in my life and for making this very uncertain world a better place. With love and admiration- Jo

Good points, Lolly.

The greatest illusion we all fight is that we are in control of anything other than how we choose to react. Change is the norm, Soon or late, we must be bold enough (or afraid enought) that we choose to step into the uncertainty of the future. And, these can provide some of our greatest “aha” moments, because we often come to realize that we have been living in a prison of our own design.

Thanks for speaking from the heart!
we can only have plan A or plan B or plan C or in modern managment we call is risk managment. They can all protect upto a point. Beyond that point Its’ Leadership to lead in uncertain times” To constantly innovate & challenge earliers assumptions , find new ways to survive & succeed.

Thanks for very useful thoughts in the present world

Thanks Lolly, for your passion to help us live simply and honestly in this world and to do so with heart-centered consciousness.

Your post reminds of the old saying that in times of wind and storm, it is better to be a willow than an oak. Resistance drains the spirit and the vitality.

Happy Tuesday to all! 🙂 Panteli

Change can so easily cause fear. Fear wants you to love consistency. Consistency hates the possibility of failure. I think most of us have been conditioned to hate failure, instead of embracing it, like change, like uncertainty.
When I embrace change, I know that failure is a possibility. But there are so many examples of great failures that lead to amazing successes.
Good post Lolly. Made me put into words my fears.

“I look at confusing circumstances as opportunity – but not everybody feels that way. That’s not the standard neurotic response. We’ve got a culture that’s based on the ability of people to control everything. Once you start to embrace confusion as a way of life, concomitant with that is the assumption that you really don’t control anything. At best it’s a matter of surfing the whitewater.” – John Perry Barlow (lyricist for the Grateful Dead)

Allan Watt’s also said “This is IT” – very beat and real.

Alex

you speak many truths about fear, change and failure.

We have been conditioned to feel weak when we fail. which is the the voice of the mind….

if we could only tap into the inner wisdom of our heart
failure, fear and change would be seen as a completely different elements in our lives.

Maybe with us all spreading its wisdom we can collectively make and see the change.

Thanks for dropping by Alex!

I spent the past 17 years working in Information Technology and I recognize first hand how difficult change could be for the folks who were supported by our computer help desk. The thing is, whether our users embraced it, fought it, or leaned into it, change was going to come regardless.

Sometimes our greatest challenge was helping users accept this fact. Once they were able to get past the fear of their uncertainty, they often found the change was never as difficult as they first thought it would be.

Wishing you a happy and safe 4th, Lolly!

Uncertainty is toughest for me when it comes to things like illness. So much is contingent and so little is within our control. Even then, it’s about staying in the moment and remaining open to the gifts all possiblities can bring. It’s hard… but powerful.

aloha Lolly…

mahalo for another thought
provoking post.

From a Buddhist perspective…

The concept of Impermanence…
holds value to those who reflect
upon it…continuously.

Holding the VIEW of Impermanence
provides a space to relate with
uncertainty…directly…with insight
and compassion.

Through his interest in Zen…
Watts is sure to have touched
upon Impermanence in his writings.

From a personal perspective…
In my thought processes and
speech…I’ve inserted the word
Command for Control.

Inherent in Control is Struggle…and
as you have stated…
Its an illusion.

Inherent in Command is Mastery.

For example…

Uncertainty arises.

Command is the ability
to respond intelligently to
that uncertainty on the spot
to achieve a specific outcome.

I cast my vote for Command
over Control and…

Mastery over Illusion.

Thanks again for the post…
and the opportunity to
share and contribute to the
conversation.

peace…

You did a beautiful job, Lolly, of showing how we each can impact our “uncertainty” by the way we react to it. Life is full of unknowns, but when we realize that it is within our control to respond to them in a healthy way, we accept and are able to move on. Thanks Lolly!

Hello Lolly.
Thank you for such a timely post for me. It is timely because I am in the moment of feeling stuck and really upset about my future. Should I surrender to the old, well-known, boring same path? Or should I jump into a new and exciting path?
I have always been so control-driven, calculating, preplanning things. Now I feel tired of it, but scared, at the same time.
Thanks again

Beautiful post Lolly. When we let go of wanting the certainty of tomorrow we can put all of our heart into living in this moment, now.
How each does this must be their way, and as I have encountered much uncertainty in the past few months I have found that letting go has been the course that has offered me serenity and clarity of vision.

To let go of the need or certainty of tomorrow frees both mind and heart to be fully open to the change that is here, now, in this moment. Like music flowing from an instrument, change flows around us, swirling, mixing, waiting to be received. How we adapt to it, how we receive the music of change is up to us. But for those that can let go and let the music of change flow within, there are wonders to discover.

Every moment is a lifetime, because we can only live within this moment

Let change play its music, let it flow within it so we may create our own symphony of life. Leadfromwithin and live in this moment.

Thanks for the post, kept me awake for your chat that I am now of to.
Be well 🙂

There is a law in Physics called “Uncertainty Principle”, which states that many happenings in life are uncertain.

That is, nothing is permanent in this world.

Everything is changing continuously. This is the way of life everywhere.

We can only make a guess of future, and we can never decide exactly what will happen in future.

And what is more, change and uncertainty is the way of life.

Everybody needs change in life, in order to make it interesting.

Your blogs are very worth reading and very useful.

Lolly, You’re right – there is incredible wisdom and strength in uncertainty. It calls forth our most creative, open and powerful selves as we face the unknown with an open heart and open mind.

I’m reminded of every single HUGE project I ever had during my consulting career. On day one of the project I had faith I could figure it out but I had absolutely no idea how we’d get to the end. I didn’t know that steps 1 – 10 would give me a perfect outcome. I DID know that we’d make it and it would be a creative, challenging and amazing journey.

A beautiful post and I also love the commentary here, too. We all seem to be subject to moments when we feel the uncertainty as emotional instability. Those moments ARE part of life. For me the challenge has always been to rise in those moments above the feelings that come from my conditioning — things learned as a child: to be frightened by uncertainty, angry about it, or even ashamed of it. If I can rise, even just a little, above the moments, putting a tiny “stop” in my reactivity, I can begin to reclaim myself. Every one of those moments, I believe, holds a lesson, and they are there to teach me how to befriend a deeper wisdom.

Uncertainty has transformed from stress to strength through your innovative look. It is true description of your beautiful mind and soul.
Thanks, Lolly.

For a dreamer, uncertainty is not a scary thing. It, in fact,feeds us with the hope and energy to keep dreaming.
My days & nights are full of switch between a dreamer mode and a positive hard-worker mode.
I’ve done so much so far, but I have much, much more to do.
So why be scared, just flow with life uncertainty and we will get there, if not there then close enough or even to a much better place.

Love your post!

Hoda

Absolutely Spot On. Shandra

Well Done, I just love your intense insight in live and leadership. You are all about Balance, Thanks

Thanks, Lolly, for a great post. Your last line “Uncertainty is here to stay, but how we choose to deal with it is the one thing we really can control” is really a great takeaway. Too often in our fast-paced, out-of-control, onto-the-next-best-thing world, with input coming from everywhere … email, IM, 24 hour news, Twitter, etc … it is good to be reminded that there is something that we can always control.

“And when uncertainty leads to doubt and fear, we find ourselves stuck.”

Have you read ‘Uncertainty’, by Jonathan Fields, Lolly?

The subtitle is ‘Turning Fear and Doubt into Fuel for Brilliance’, which is one way of getting unstuck, isn’t it?

This is indeed a lesson I am learning currently, I was faced with the choice of continued Unhappiness or Uncertainty, in the end I chose uncertainty.
Not that I`m particularly Brave or Clever, I was just so Unhappy.
And now I`m so glad I did! 🙂
I went self-employed, took myself off all welfare, and although I`v only made £11.90 in the last week, it feels like it`s 11 Million in my heart!

there are Much worse things out there than Uncertainty!
and selecting This Uncertainty option, I`m in with a chance at least.
I had No chance before.
and although I`m not “Comfortable” with it, I shall Embrace it until I am 🙂

Thanks Lolly!

Lolly, many thanks. Uncertainty is the ladder for progress. Opposite is standstill and decay

“step into uncertainty” where the magic begins, but for many they would rather trade the magic for certainty.

Uncertainty is what separates those that exist from those that live.

Brilliant post Lolly, its inspiring to know you

This do true of the beautiful illusion of life. I want re post this link on my instagram account. Thanks Lolly.

Very well written…

Allow yourself to be drawn by the more grounded pull of that which you genuinely love.