After nearly 20 years of working with global leaders to navigate change, I would say facing and managing uncertainty is one of the most stressful and overwhelming experiences people face. Uncertainty often involves change, and while some people choose change, what is more common and anxiety-inducing is when change chooses you. Or, worse yet, when you must cope with the prospect of change, not knowing when, where, or if it will happen. Since it is an unavoidable part of life, learning how to deal with uncertainty is crucial, yet this skill is incredibly challenging to master.
Below, I share some tips that my clients often find helpful as they navigate uncertain times in their personal and professional lives.
Why Is Dealing With Uncertainty Important?
Uncertainty is the state of not knowing what to believe, what to do, or how a particular situation will unfold. The most stress-inducing situations around uncertainty typically begin with a snippet of information that upends any sense of stability you have felt. Within organizations, it could be the announcement of budget cutbacks, followed by chatter among your peers that layoffs are on the horizon. In our personal lives, it could be a string of unanswered calls and texts to one of our closest friends.
When these situations occur, we begin to form a set of assumptions about them, all narrated through our lens of experiences and identity. That unleashes emotional reactions that may or may not be right for the circumstances. When you don’t understand how to deal with uncertainty, you may react with stress, anger, and an inability to focus, rather than reason. These feelings can leave us on edge and prone to negative thoughts, lashing out, or other unhealthy or destructive behaviors.
Learning to face uncertainty head-on can help you be more proactive, seizing opportunities to understand the situation and yourself better. However, that doesn’t mean you must take action. Sometimes, it is better to embrace uncertainty and learn to live with it, whereas other times, we must find a way to extract ourselves. The trick is learning to analyze the situation to ease the pressure, make good decisions, and avoid feeling overwhelmed.
How to Cope With Uncertainty: 5 Tips
Most of my work surrounding uncertainty and change involves helping clients take a step back to observe and examine their situation, thereby regaining a sense of clarity and control before moving forward. You can follow these tips sequentially, or pick and choose the most pertinent ones.
1. Explore What is Triggering You and Your Reaction.
Take a moment to be introspective. Living with uncertainty is uncomfortable for everyone, but certain situations may be more triggering to you than others. When you react strongly in ways that are not typical for you, that might be a sign that your life experiences (cultural conditioning) are influencing your perspective and ability to cope. Getting to the root cause of your experience can help you find your footing.
Begin by acknowledging that the situation is uncertain and that being unsure is part of life. Then ask yourself, were there other occasions when you felt the same feelings? Sometimes we can have a difficult time discerning between emotions that are relevant and applicable today and those rooted in our past. Examining what happened then and how this situation may be similar or different from what you are experiencing now can help.
2. Examine Your Relationship With Uncertainty
Consider your relationship with uncertainty based on what you discovered about yourself from the previous exercise. For many of my clients, the discomfort is usually a result of the perceived lack of control.
For example, no one enjoys the prospect of losing their job. However, it can be more manageable when people feel safe in other ways (due to an emergency savings account, a strong network, etc.). Yet, sometimes, even those who are financially comfortable can find the threat of layoffs particularly triggering, especially if they grew up in a family that struggled with money and felt powerless to help. Persistent money worries can lead to a scarcity mindset that persists for years, even after the situation resolves.
The irony is that certainty is an illusion. Nothing is certain or permanent in life. It’s how you handle it that matters.
3. Determine What You Can and Cannot Control About the Situation
There are times when the problems and the uncertainty seem so significant and insurmountable that we resort to behaviors that are entirely at odds with maintaining clarity.
For instance, one “coping” mechanism I’ve observed is doomscrolling, which often leads to doomspiraling. We get into the doomscrolling loop because we want to be aware of any signs that could further impact our sense of stability. Yet, our news feeds are full of “algorithmically alarming” headlines that get people to click and read, making it challenging to assess the situation critically. Therefore, doomscrolling behavior typically creates a sense of ever-greater uncertainty, which leads to emotional spiraling.
A simple question I like to ask clients is, “What is within your control?” The answer usually lies with their ability to control their emotional response, while preparing for, managing, and accepting the circumstances they cannot change.
4. Seek Different Perspectives
When facing an uncertain situation, we naturally seek information to help us understand what is happening. Unfortunately, we often do this within an immediate circle of like-minded friends or by consuming content, driven by algorithms. That can result in confirmation bias, a phenomenon where we unconsciously search for and interpret information in a way that supports our flawed assumptions.
Therefore, I encourage my clients to seek and consider other perspectives. That can involve having respectful conversations with people who may hold different opinions or reading a logical analysis of a situation. I also find it helpful to remember the Principle of Parsimony (also called Occam’s Razor), which is the idea that the simplest explanation gets you closer to the truth.
These actions can be empowering because they help you challenge your assumptions and move beyond your emotions to build understanding, or even a sense of empathy around the situation.
5. Then, Focus on the Present by Taking Action
After gaining insights from the steps above, develop and implement an action plan. Jot down what is within your control, what you must do immediately, what can wait, and whom you can speak to as you work through negative feelings.
One exercise that my clients typically appreciate is scenario planning. If they are concerned about the possibility of change, I ask them to describe the best and worst-case scenarios and how they might respond. That helps them manage their stress, regain control over their emotions, and recognize potential opportunities for personal growth, rather than overreacting to something that hasn’t happened yet.
How to Deal With Uncertainty: The Bottom Line
Navigating uncertainty is a series of small decisions that lead to impact, not one big “right or wrong” decision. As much as it may help to have someone tell you what to do, it’s up to you to be able to navigate the situation. Asking yourself the right questions and exploring your options with others can help provide you with the information and clarity necessary to move forward confidently. For additional guidance, please visit our resources page.
