“The central problem of our age is how to act decisively in the absence of certainty.” Bertrand Russell.
I do not know about you, but I am not good with not knowing things. I realize that it drives those around me crazy at times, but it is who I am. I just like to know what is happening and where things are going.
Which brings me to 2015. As we enter this new year there is a great deal of uncertainty and concern, and each of us will respond differently to this situation. It is easy to focus on the unique challenges of the year ahead – and there will be some challenges – but the reality is this; there is always uncertainty and there is always change in modern day life. It is just how things are. With all of our knowledge and instant information from around the globe, we still cannot know some things no matter how much we would like to.
So how does one move forward in this? There is any number of potential answers and given my personal struggles with uncertainty perhaps I am not the best person to comment, but here are a couple of ideas that resonate with me and so perhaps they will resonate with you as well.
First, know who you are and what is most important to you. Your anchors, your core values, your qualities that are you at your best, those things that have been the key to your success or personal development; it is unlikely that these will change, or change easily, in the coming year. Focusing on them and not getting caught up in a reactionary, ‘change for the sake of change’ mentality, might serve you well. It seems to me that unless there is a very good reason to do so, successful people and organizations do not change what has brought them that success.
And second; let go of what you cannot control, focus on what you can. I know, I know, sounds rather cliché, but that does not make it any less true. Human beings seem predisposed to spending a great deal of energy and stress over things that are outside of their control while neglecting the things that are. You can always exert self-control in an out of controlled environment, as difficult as that may be some times.
Welcome to 2015. By most accounts it is going to be one of those years that pushes us, that creates some extra uncertainty. I assume that it will be a challenging year, but it also can be a great opportunity to put some extra attention into the details and processes that often get neglected when things are crazy busy. We may not like to hear it, but uncertainty can drive us to be our best; but that is a choice we each must make.
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A Time of Uncertainty
I do not know about you, but I am not good with not knowing things. I realize that it drives those around me crazy at times, but it is who I am. I just like to know what is happening and where things are going.
Which brings me to 2015. As we enter this new year there is a great deal of uncertainty and concern, and each of us will respond differently to this situation. It is easy to focus on the unique challenges of the year ahead – and there will be some challenges – but the reality is this; there is always uncertainty and there is always change in modern day life. It is just how things are. With all of our knowledge and instant information from around the globe, we still cannot know some things no matter how much we would like to.
So how does one move forward in this? There is any number of potential answers and given my personal struggles with uncertainty perhaps I am not the best person to comment, but here are a couple of ideas that resonate with me and so perhaps they will resonate with you as well.
First, know who you are and what is most important to you. Your anchors, your core values, your qualities that are you at your best, those things that have been the key to your success or personal development; it is unlikely that these will change, or change easily, in the coming year. Focusing on them and not getting caught up in a reactionary, ‘change for the sake of change’ mentality, might serve you well. It seems to me that unless there is a very good reason to do so, successful people and organizations do not change what has brought them that success.
And second; let go of what you cannot control, focus on what you can. I know, I know, sounds rather cliché, but that does not make it any less true. Human beings seem predisposed to spending a great deal of energy and stress over things that are outside of their control while neglecting the things that are. You can always exert self-control in an out of controlled environment, as difficult as that may be some times.
Welcome to 2015. By most accounts it is going to be one of those years that pushes us, that creates some extra uncertainty. I assume that it will be a challenging year, but it also can be a great opportunity to put some extra attention into the details and processes that often get neglected when things are crazy busy. We may not like to hear it, but uncertainty can drive us to be our best; but that is a choice we each must make.
This entry was posted on Monday, February 2nd, 2015 at 3:21 pm and is filed under Comments. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.