Discover how embracing uncertainty in life can help you overcome fear of the unknown and unlock new opportunities for personal growth. Learn practical strategies to turn challenges into success.
Most of us are unhappy because we tried to predict the future and it didn’t go as we wanted. The fear each of us has in times of uncertainty is unbearable, overwhelming and sometime even foreseen in our darkest moments. But what can we do-when things that affect us personally are out of our control?
One thing that is constant; is change and with it, uncertainty. But how do we react to it?
Fear of the Unknown: Resistance or Readiness?
We want nothing to do with what we are not familiar with, so we hide our fear behind ‘resistance’ and avoidance.
Very few people would dare to admit they don’t know, rather they will brush it off or repel the question in some way. Craig Dowden in his online article on Scott Stirrett’s leadership blueprint: Turning Uncertainty into Advantage says ‘Studies show we actually fear uncertain outcomes more than bad outcomes. Think about it: wouldn’t you rather know you have a challenging diagnosis than spend months wondering if something’s wrong?’
Perception shapes everything. It dictates our emotions and the paths we choose. Consider AI: one person sees job loss, resists by badmouthing it, and likely gets left behind. Another acknowledges the shift, takes a part-time course to stay relevant in an AI-enhanced workplace, and might even earn a raise by helping implement it. One may get fired; the other thrives.
The Upside of Unpredictability: Preparation Unlocks Potential
The world itself has no limits, the only limits you have, are in your head. And the unforeseen nature of our world is in strong support of this motion?
How a random boy who is born poor, lost his parents while still in school may end up becoming a millionaire in his forties. While at the same time, there is a rich spoiled kid who inherited wealth from his parents but ends up gambling all his money and ends up broke! This is completely hypothetical but is very real in our current life.
We ought to therefore not only hope for a brighter future but work hard consistently with caution towards achieving that dream life. Be it an exotic car, a cleared off mortgage or that promotion.
When it comes to people, a person (an ideal partner) or a specific scenario-we ought not to idolise a specific description. To avoid getting disappointed if things don’t turn out exactly as we wanted them to. Keeping an open mind is key to fulfilment. Often the best things in life happen to us by mistake.
Dare to Leverage Uncertainty: The Entrepreneur’s Edge
But how many of us have dared to use uncertainty to our advantage? This function, in fact is how most people get ahead in life. Predict-anticipate, plan, implement and wait (for results)
This very principle is followed by not only every single business but every single farmer and entrepreneur. What are you waiting for?
Look at bitcoin, among other online trends. People looked down on bitcoin years ago but now can’t even afford just one. Imagine how much further its price could rise (this is not an ad)
Faith in Action: Throwing Stones Across the Gap
It’s just a matter of faith—like spotting a distant gap and tossing a stone, hoping it lands near the hoop.
Business isn’t gambling as most amateurs perceive…
There are substitutes for almost every single product on the market. You don’t have to make the perfect solution. In fact, if you can, just copy and make a few changes.
Originality only applies in copyright; business is about profit. Look how far China has grown, by just producing close to original products (counterfeit). Am not asking you to do so but showing you that you don’t have to be the first innovator of a specific solution or service. Make whatever you can and deliver it on the market.
Ever walked into the dark? And it seems pitch opaque until you take few steps into it. And gradually you start discerning a few shadows and present objects, even though you can’t see them. But the further you stay, as you look more keenly, you start sensing more things within that darkness. Be it a person, or an animal. And if you walk further into it, with your eyes focused ahead, you start having a few shades of light, off any object that may be present within your path. And if you walk further, you become more confident, as your eyes have now adapted to this darkness even though everything may not be clear, but you surely can manoeuvre through to the end. Read it again but replace the darkness with uncertainty.
Throwing that stone may initially feel like a gamble. What if I miss? What if it does the opposite of what I want it to? This anticipation is necessary, in fact if you don’t feel it, you either are too experienced or careless. The stone is your opportunity—resources invested to fill a gap (innovation, service, solution). To solve a problem, the gap. Be it an innovation, service or solution. In the act of taking on that risk of throwing the stone towards the gap, the only thing you stand to lose in that very moment is the stone itself (the opportunity- resources or whatever you put in) but the gap remains. You still have multiple chances to get more stones in life unless a major innovation takes place and eliminates that gap- problem permanently, which very rarely happens. You can always try again.
Stay updated. Spot gaps in economic or tech volatility and create solutions. Reflect often, hold yourself accountable, reality-check progress. What matters now may not later. Track yourself against trends to align with real time progress and gain directional control.
There is no need to fear, for as long as it doesn’t kill you.
Do you know how much passes through the mind of a young man when a one-night stand turns out to birth an unexpected child?
Does his life stop there, or does it continue anyway?
Abrupt changes are rare but expectable. They stem from past decisions. Just like you can’t become a millionaire overnight, as you also can’t be diagnosed with AIDS out of nowhere (no offence to anyone). Everything comes from somewhere. That’s why every single choice you choose to make matters.
What to do when things don’t turn out as we wanted?
When things flop? Embrace failure maturely. It hits: “I failed.” Then let go—make it past tense. Retain lessons, don’t dwell or prejudge the present. Use them for better decisions or revised approaches. You just never know what might work out.
As for time, it is an illusion for anyone who claims to stand on business, i.e., really mean what they say. One major failure or multiple minor ones can’t make you give up on pursuing your dream life. But also know when to stop sometimes.
We need to sow seeds in our present, without prejudging our past or think how late we may seem to be in our own eyes.
Since the future is utterly unknown to us. It’s better to throw out our seeds in whichever endeavour we deem profitable. For we don’t know what will or won’t work out. Whether the rain will fall on the hill or in the valley, we don’t know.
But we shall be certain to reap from somewhere during the next harvest if we threw seeds(in the first place) on all the land at our exposure.
As for time, if it be you are committed to a real cause, it is of no effect. It’s not about the years of your life but the life in your years that matters. Experiences make life not time.
And life moves on uncertainty… for who among us can describe explicitly what will happen tomorrow?
We ought to embrace the unknown like a chance, an advantage hidden in the dark. One ceased much faster with prior preparation and most times an agile character.
The only species that survives in nature is not always the strongest but the one that keeps evolving to the new environment.
In a retelling of the fable entitled “Solomon’s Seal” by the English poet Edward FitzGerald. In it, a sultan requests of King Solomon a sentence that would always be true in good times or bad; Solomon responds,
“This too will pass away“.(Wikipedia)
Final note: uncertainty is a symbol of hope. The current situation may not look friendly but there is still hope, a reason to live for, expectation for something better in the future. This is what has kept most of us alive in this saddening and woe-full life.
Prepare, act, adapt—and uncertainty becomes your greatest ally. What stone will you throw today?