Take the Leap and Trust Yourself

I am sure you have heard these words, "during these uncertain times...". It is the motto of 2020. However, none of the messages have stated how to find "certainty" during an "uncertain" time.

"Certainty" is a feeling, where we feel comfortable with our ability to act, because we believe we know how to move forward successfully. Our actions are based on our values, beliefs, mindset, and from our perceptions. We have a difficult time finding certainty when our surroundings are not following our normal routine. This is completely normal, in fact it is healthy. It is our systems way of letting us know things are not normal and to tread lightly. We use habits to get us through our daily lives, without having to over think every single action (we can talk more about habits another time). Habits are a key player in helping us feel certain. Habits allow us to move forward confidently, without feeling like the world will fall apart with one wrong move.

"Uncertainty" is also a feeling, where we feel lost and don't know which action to take to successfully move forward. We feel like if we wrongly act, then it will lead us down a dark road that we are not excited to travel. This leads us to hesitate in acting, which sometimes hurts us in achieving our goals or maintaining happiness. If we do not act towards our goals, then we do not continue to produce or create value, one of the necessaries as a human. When humans are not actively producing something of value, we can send ourselves into a negative spiral or depression spell. When we feel uncertain we have a tendency to stumble around looking for something to save us or hang on to.

Story Time:

I recently got laid off from being a Vice Principal at a private school in the Bay Area. You may think that being in education, would be one of the most secure jobs, other than maybe a nurse, in the current economy.

Before being laid off, I took a class from Harvard about economics in emerging markets. One of the core concepts from this class was to identify gaps in the market, then discover ways to fulfill those gaps. COVID-19 is changing how our economy, and frankly the world's economy, will work. There is no "safe" industry. There is only finding the gaps, fulfill those, and then look for the next gap.

When I was laid off, yes I took an emotional hit -- the shock lasted longer then I would have liked. However, it helped me realize that there is a gap for mentoring and coaching in the educational world. The private school that laid me off has using a pre-COVID business and financial system, of course they are finding themselves in a current hardship. Just like everyone else, they need to find a new way to manage the economic changes for the COVID world.

Lesson Learned:

Life is uncertain. There is no "safety". A changing system does not mean you have to change your values. It does mean that you have to change how you use and act based on your values.

One thing that will always be certain -- we are in control of our own actions, nothing else. We can't control the environment, how others act, or any other action. We can only control our own actions.

To create certainty during uncertain times, look to yourself. I know cliché. However, if you look at an "uncertain situation", then it is based off of the things you can't control. Try changing your perspective, look at it from what you can control. How you choose to act is the most certainty you can create for yourself during any type of time.

The first thing you have to do is take the leap and trust yourself.