Nothing upsets us more in business than uncertainty. No matter how many years of experience or if you’re just starting out, uncertainty is an unspoken demon.
Business uncertainty is the worst because so much about our business depends on positive outcomes. To be uncertain has the potential to jeopardize all the investments we made in terms of time, money, effort, and being responsible for those depending on us.
While we might not want to acknowledge our uncertainty, we still express it.
We hide behind a veneer of self-confidence.
We notice how quickly anxiety escalates.
We can’t decide what we want.
We complain about not knowing where to start.
We feel that we can’t think straight.
We seek out stress relievers that momentarily remove the knot in our stomach.
Three reasons for hating uncertainty
- It’s ambiguous
- It’s painful
- It’s a threat
When it comes to business decisions, uncertainty is at its worst. A business decision requires sorting through the ambiguity of different kinds of information. It means painfully evaluating the most beneficial outcomes. And lastly, the fear of making the wrong decision is an underlying and haunting threat.
Actually, it’s your brain’s job to reduce uncertainty and return you to a state of knowing and confidence. However, it’s a challenging job.
What your brain is attempting to do is process all the millions of multi kilobytes of information flowing in by looking for recognizable patterns of information that already exists in memories. When it finds a match, a memory category confirms new information as being similar to previous information and experiences. And, that is why we like to make decisions based on what we already know.
When there is not a match, then there’s mental agitation. The mind has to decide what to do with uncertainty. It can reject and ignore, it can give it less of a value of importance or it can continue to let it be a nagging irritant.
When uncertainty becomes a nagging irritant, the brain wants to kick into gear and look for more information. It treats the irritant as a problem to be solved and seeks out missing puzzle pieces.
Eventually, it accumulates and processes all information and arrives at a “best guess” answer.
A “best guess” answer, however, is not necessarily the best decision choice.
Despite how much information the brain has, there are always the unknown factors of possibilities and potential opportunities. Seasoned business entrepreneurs will tell you that many times working through uncertainty was the most satisfying and rewarding part of their business decisions.
And, yes sometimes there are failures and the brain adds those experiences into its files of what not to do. However, when there are unexpected successes, the brain opens up new memory categories for what works.
While you and your brain may hate uncertainty when it comes to making business decisions, moving through it gives you a competitive edge.
While others want to play it safe, your brain has more expertise to draw from in helping you decide which possibilities and potential opportunities are right for your business.
If you’ve encountered uncertainty with making certain business decisions, please feel free to share how you were able to overcome and move on in your business.
Sources:
http://www.nutshell-videos.ed.ac.uk/peggy-series-uncertainty-and-the-brain/
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/your-brain-work/200910/hunger-certainty
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Great blog! Also saved to go through it again! Thankyou!
I do that too. Save it for a second read thru or a resource. Gald you found it useful.
Uncertainty is a part of the game. It is not just in business but in every part of one’s life. However, that is true…for a businessman, it can be too much of a pressure. It can be terrifying particularly if there is a big investment involved. However, if there is no risk, nothing can be gained.
Lorii, you’re so right without taking some form of risk nothing can be gained. The best you can do is to minimize the risk as much as possible.
If I find myself in a state of uncertainty, I try to relax and not think about it for a bit. Maybe I’ll go for a run, or meditate. I try to quiet my mind and let wisdom come to me and not buy into the discomfort!
Wise move Kimberly. We always don’t need to make a decision immediately. Uncertainty can be a message from the inner mind that it needs more time to sort through information to give you the best answer.
Spot on! Thankyou 😆
Glad the theme of uncertainty resonated with you.
Uncertainty is always unnerving in any business. However, I often find it does leave doors of possibility open. And that can be a game changer. Great blog!
Most definitely, Kathleen. As much as we love things to have more certainty, it’s always good to look for the doors of possibility and opportunity.
Love the image- I know that feeling, recently been back there and with tapping, journaling I have absolute clarity on my direction and it feels great- Wow how procrastination sets in with uncertanity xxx
Suzie, so agree that when you reach that stage of clarity all the pieces fall into place. And, it’s worth the effort to get there.
Joyce I wish I had more uncertainty in the beginning. I was too quick to trust and jump in and ended up spending a lot of time and money on learning and marketing that was unnecessary. I would suggest to others to start small, go deep with foundation and then expand. I know risk taking can be great and following one’s intuition is helpful, but Less is More!
Candess, I think I would re-frame this more as cautiousness. We want our new businesses to be successful and we easily fall for the bright shiny object syndrome. It all sounds so good, and that is what marketing is suppose to do. Play on emotional needs. We are all going to make mistakes, but if we are honest with ourselves, we learn and move on, being all the wiser. Intuition is something everyone can benefit from, as well as, creating a good foundation to build from. Thanks for sharing your experiences and thoughts.
Great read, insightful. Thanks
Glad you found it of value.