Minute by minute - hour by hour

It’s how we make sense when nothing seems to make sense. 

As facts change and there is new data, we know more. As more information comes to light, the situation changes and we learn more. 

Then we act again. 

As we learn more from those actions, we act again. 

It’s one of the best reasons for getting into action sooner. Sooner than you think you should. 

You’ll get hindsight and be able to look back on what happened, on how it went. We can’t know everything before taking action, but we can make adjustments once we’re in action. 

Get going on that project or task. Things will look different again once you’re underway. 

Accelerate your decision making

We’ve all got plenty on the go. Our crowded to do list may not be just a sign of a lot happening in our life. 

It can also be a sign of some decisions yet to be made. 

Maybe we’re waiting on someone or some more information, or another piece of the puzzle to fall in to place. 

Other times we’re waiting for the “right time”. When is that exactly? 

It’s good to decide, to:
Choose the colour.
Set the date. 
Decide between the options. 
Select who to invite. 
Come up with the name or title. 

Many of our tasks require a decision first ... then action. 

Check through your to do list: which things are there because we haven’t yet made a decision about them? 

A decision made can ease some of our overwhelm and overload. 

We won’t need to carry the indecision around with us anymore. 

The decision is made. 

Doing the work gives you the learning

Our desire for things to be easy can mean we might want to avoid the complicated and challenging stuff.  

We love smooth and easy progress! To be presented with the right answer or have the perfect path to completion roll out in front of us is bliss! 

When it comes to running your own business, solving a client problem or working on a complex task, doing the actual work is what gives us the learning. 

Making decisions and trying things out are learning experiences. Frustrating, uncertain, scary ... yes. But confidence and experience building as well. 

What is that quote about there being no sense of achievement without the challenge? 

We can tap advice, pick up some quick tips or even ask others what their ‘best’ answer is. 

More often than not, the better path is one where we experience it ourselves and learn from it. 

What I do when I don’t know what to do

In times of doubt, uncertainty and change, there can be situations where we just don’t know what to do next. So it can be helpful to just do something. To get going and get into motion or momentum. To start.

Changing direction or shifting while you’re already in motion is much easier than trying to get going from a standing start.

When I don’t know what to do, I just do something ... anything ... to get me into motion.

I “do”.

Decisions, ideas, confidence and clarity come more frequently and easily.

Swinging from uncertainty to certainty

We do it so many times a day.

Uncertainty about breakfast.

Certainty about breakfast.

Uncertainty about the bus.

Certainty about the bus.

Uncertainty about the meeting.

Certainty about the meeting.

Uncertainty about the decision.

Certainty about the decision.

We’re all just swinging from being sure about some stuff and unsure about other stuff. And the stuff changes. And the level of certainty and uncertainty can change too.

This is the U in VUCA. How are you going with it? How is your team going? Things are changing so you’ll be certain about some more stuff in a few minutes time. And some other stuff will become uncertain.

Notice the swing: go with the swing. Better than trying to keep everything still in certainty, expecting it to ‘switch’ to certainty and stay there. We’re going with it - oh look, more certainty approaching.