How to deal with uncertainty and change
Photo by Jukan Tateisi on Unsplash
Uncertainty arises when we do not have enough information about what will occur in the future. This is a normal occurrence since we cannot predict everything that will ever happen. However, when our world becomes so uncertain that we cannot predict anything related to our work or studies, our anxiety levels will skyrocket. We, as human beings, like to have some uncertainty to keep us on our toes, but when everything becomes too vague, we want to latch onto something familiar to keep us grounded. We live in a world that is changing daily (even pre Covid!), and we have to adapt to these changes with no guidance. I am not claiming to provide a comprehensive guide on becoming a super adaptable person, but this post is meant to guide you on how you should approach sudden and gradual changes in your life.
Setting your priorities straight.
Let’s start with one change that we are all experiencing now; Covid19. For most of us, this was the first experience of many things: staying at home for months on end, learning online, spending long hours with family etc... However, we adapted, and we got through it, and we can take many lessons to become more resilient in these unprecedented times. First, we have to learn to set our priorities straight. Your physical and mental health comes first at any point in time. Without your physical or mental health intact, you will not function optimally in any situation. Many people undermine the importance of having a support system of friends and family to help you get through a certain situation. These people give you a sense of familiarity and comfort in a rapidly changing world. In addition, your support system is one thing that you can be grateful for amongst many other blessings!
Shift your paradigm
In his book, The seven habits of highly effective people, Stephen Covey states that we should shift our paradigm when faced with a novel situation. For example, you should look at getting lost in a new city as an adventure rather than a frustration! Always be ready to learn something new. Always look upon changes as positive in the long term as they enable you to learn new skills that you wouldn't have learnt otherwise. This is definitely easier said than done! However, a massive amount of learning occurs during periods where everything is novel. These periods are difficult, albeit you to learn how to be more dependent on yourself in terms of your work and studies and develop new skills such as picking up a sport or even cooking!
Reflect Constantly
One of the most important things in life is reflection. In any period of time, one must learn to reflect about their life; How is it going? What is going well? What could go better? Are key questions that undermine self-development and allows us to check in with ourselves to ensure that we are on track. Reflection could also tell us how resilient and how we can use our previous experiences to deal with novel situations.
Develop a Routine (ish)
Develop habits that give you a sense of control or a sense of routine. These habits connect you to what’s normal and help keep you grounded. Habits are automatic, you don’t have to think about them, and they give you a sense of predictability. These could be tiny things like making your coffee every morning at 9 am or jogging every evening. One way to keep these habits going is to use habit stacking, where you identify a current habit you already do each day and then stack your new behaviour on top. So if you already drink water every day when you wake up, you can then couple it to making your bed and then making your coffee. You can read more about effective habits in the book “Atomic Habits”.
Have a rough plan
You cannot control everything, but It is beneficial to have a rough plan for whatever you want to do, giving yourself a lot of leeway in the process. I don’t mean a detailed plan of what you will do every hour of the day as it will be very frustrating if you don’t complete everything on time. Instead, write down what you need to achieve in a month and have a rough plan for each week. Plan ahead of each week in case you need to make changes based on last week results. Then, every morning, make a daily to-do list and tick the tasks off as you go to ensure that you are on track.
Though these actions may seem minuscule, they are of considerable importance to allow you to move forward in a time of uncertainty. If you have any suggestions, please add them in the form below!
Happy learning,
TST team.
