Comments on: Comfortable with Uncertainty

By: Julie P

Julie P — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 11:33:52 +0000

Generally stability feels safe – that stability comes in a variety of forms, but feeling safe makes it easier to take risks.

It may be totally in your head. I am in Whistler BC for a few weeks with my family and I took my sun glasses (with a light perscription for stygmatism) instead of my goggles (w/out perscription) snowboarding on a sunny day last week. I was faster and more aggressive than usual, probably because I could see better and I rely on my sight for seeing ice pockets and flat spots, whatever… that said, the Paralympics are here next week and my yoga teacher works ski-patrol, she told me about a ski-racer who is blind. she races by audio queing and feel, I guess my need for extra-sensory stability is really just in my head.

By: FlavioGomes

FlavioGomes — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 21:13:48 +0000

Its alway feels worse when your in the middle of crisis then it actually is.

By: Steven Kane

Steven Kane — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 22:58:10 +0000

Chance favors the prepared mind. – Louis Pasteur

By: jerrycolonna

jerrycolonna — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 17:36:56 +0000

So trusting ourselves, trusting the team is a way through the uncertainty.

By: jerrycolonna

jerrycolonna — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 17:35:40 +0000

Why the need for a bit of stability?

By: dantinpa

dantinpa — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 04:03:29 +0000

damn, that is a spot-on comment. “the collective wisdom of the team you've built knows – the right way to respond”. I had a situation in the past where I failed to build the team I needed around me. In hindsight, I was arrogant – I got comfortable that I (ME, not WE) could respond. Although I tried to build that team, a few key pieces were missing and when WE needed to respond, I did not trust the “collective wisdom”. We/I floundered for a few months and ultimately rebuilt the entire team.

By: Julie P

Julie P — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 03:47:52 +0000

Great post; I think some people (leaders) have just enough stability to trust their gut and fly into darkness. For me, I need just enough information/cash/hope/love/vision whatever that stability is rooted in to take hold. When I have a bit of stability THEN I can fly into the darkness.

By: jerrycolonna

jerrycolonna — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 03:39:56 +0000

It'd be pretty damned boring without the fear, now, wouldn't it?

By: jerrycolonna

jerrycolonna — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 03:39:33 +0000

Exactly so, Deb. Sit. Stay. Dance. The perfect prescription.

By: jerrycolonna

jerrycolonna — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 03:39:05 +0000

I think that's right dantinpa. In the end, though, I think you have to relax enough to know that you can't anticipate all the moves and trust that your gut knows–that the collective wisdom of the team you've built knows–the right way to respond.

By: chad

chad — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 03:20:52 +0000

Jerry, great post. My 2 cents:

Having uncertainty is it's own knowing. If you are uncertain about success, you can know you wont attain it.

Living with uncertainty is creativity in essence and also it's own knowing. If you live in the uncertainty of the next client, product release, or whatever, you stand in the uncertain position of creatively directing the flow of uncertain events toward success. You will be successful.

By: Bags

Bags — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 23:34:59 +0000

Life is scary… terrifying even. But that's part of the fun.

By: Deb

Deb — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 22:46:52 +0000

Sit. Stay.
Listen.
When the movement originates from the spaces between the breaths,
from the pause between the note.
then, oh then the dance is stunning.
Stop sitting.
Dance.

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Mon, 01 Mar 2010 05:04:57 +0000

[...] Former VC and current CEO coach, Jerry Colonna, says that if you're going to lead, expect to never know exactly how things will turn out – and be good with that. Colonna pours on the anecdotes and closes with, "Maybe the hardest part of leadership—be it leading a company, a family, a relationship or simply your own life—is that often times you don’t know and you still have to act." Read more. [...]

By: jerrycolonna

jerrycolonna — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 17:36:11 +0000

Not sure about building optimists but I think people can learn to see the underlying patterns that cause the unease and anxiety and interrupt enough so that no longer become the habituated response.
Seeing the pattern, becoming mindful of it all, was and remains a powerful tool in my own life and one which I encourage with all my clients. And there are some awesome adventures on the other side of anxiety.

By: dantinpa

dantinpa — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 17:21:07 +0000

To me it's all about possiblities vs. adverse consequences and barriers vs. paths. The more I experience, the more complex the model becomes based on all the new input. I can imagine more possibilites, but I see more potential downsides. I see more potential barriers, but I have figured out more ways to avoid them or get around them. In the end, I get comfortable knowing that I have thought it through, have a clear vision for the possibility, can recover from worse case results, can anticipate multiple barriers and have a few different paths in mind to avoid or get around them. Sounds like a football coach planning for the season or a game.

By: panterosa

panterosa — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 04:56:04 +0000

Can you teach people to embrace that freedom and begin the adventure? Can you rewire their guts to respond with ease not anxiety? Can you build an optimist?

By: jerrycolonna

jerrycolonna — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 02:00:32 +0000

I think it's learning to relax with the uncertainty that brings freedom. I think part of what I was trying to address was the paralysis I often see setting in in the face of incomplete data.
Learning to be comfortable with uncertainty can not only ease anxiety but facilitate decision making.

By: panterosa

panterosa — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 23:20:28 +0000

How does one teach uncertainty with intelligence? Isn't it a form of know thyself which helps one see the world and know where to fit in and when. Who are you? is a never ending question which remains open even after we die.

People are often more uncomfortable in knowing (it's time to break up, quit the job etc.) than in the uncertainty. The uncertainty brings freedom.

By: links for 2010-02-27 « Continual Improvement

links for 2010-02-27 « Continual Improvement — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 17:03:32 +0000

[...] The Monster In Your Head » Comfortable with Uncertainty Great post about uncertainty and why reducing uncertainty won't create certainty. (tags: uncertainty startup certainty leadership action comfort entrepreneur) [...]