How do you deal with uncertainty?
Uncertainty is part of life, but a lot of us aren’t very good at handling it! Sustainability researcher and consultant Dr Rebekah L. Tauritz suggests that to become more competent with uncertainty, we need to reduce, tolerate and even cherish being uncertain. How do we do that?
How can we reduce uncertainty?
- Find, evaluate, and use information
- Judge the source of our information
- Carefully investigate to understand new and difficult topics
- Develop arguments for and against different outcomes and/or solutions
- Take action based on the likelihood (probable, plausible, possible, or preposterous) of different outcomes
- Decide in which order challenges should be addressed
- Make a plan of action
- Use our previous experience to guide us
- Assess our abilities to achieve our aims
- Gather humans (and non-humans) around us who help and encourage us
- Work productively with a team of people with different knowledges, skills, and experiences
- Pay attention to what our bodies, senses, and emotions tell us, as well as what our heads think
- Judge how certain other people are about the challenge, issue, or solution
- Express how certain we are about the challenge, issue, or solution
How can we tolerate uncertainty?
- Accept not knowing what will happen or what the right solutionis
- Think about our beliefs and be willing to change them
- Empathise with different perspectives
How can we cherish uncertainty?
- Use uncertainty to spark creative action
- Enjoy learning new things
- Think outside the box
Reproduced with kind permission from Dr Tauritz (2019, 2016)