The Mindset You Can Adopt to Overcome Uncertainty

To get better at managing uncertainty, make these four mindset shifts.

“Living with uncertainty is one of the few established facts of modern life (or any life for that matter).”

— Lawrence J. Raphael

How often do you face uncertainty, and how well do you deal with it?

I have to admit that I haven’t been the best at coping with uncertainty, but I learned a thing or two after getting my fair share of opportunities this year.

I flew back to China in the midst of COVID restrictions in 2021, got caught in the news-breaking lockdown in Shanghai in early 2022, and today, I can’t reach Immigration to get my PR card when I have to leave Canada in two weeks.

This is nothing compared to the problems others are facing around the world, but they taught me an important life skill of managing uncertainty.

I want to share the mindsets that worked for me to help you cope better with uncertainty, whether now or in the future.

1 —Plan for the best

It’s important to plan what you’ll do if the best-case scenario happened.

Often, I see people making the mistake of keeping their expectations so low that they don’t even think about what they’d do if the good case happened — because they’re scared of getting their hopes crushed.

The problem is, if we don’t plan for the best case when it does happen, we won’t be able to capitalize on it as well as we could.

2 — Prepare for the worst

At the same time, prepare for the worst case or cases.

Think about: What’s the worst thing that could happen? And what will I do then?

People stop after the 1st question — leading them down a spiral of anxiety. What’s more important is the 2nd question, contingent on us knowing our worst-case prediction is accurate, that it’s truly the worst case.

To answer the 2nd question, we can make a Plan B, Plan C, and Plan D on top of Plan A.

Essentially, be prepared to react to all probable scenarios, then we’ll have the confidence to sit back with earned patience.

3— Block out constrained time to worry

The biggest challenge with uncertainty sometimes is not the problem itself but how much burden it places on our minds.

If you find yourself constantly worrying about some uncertain future event, what worked for me is blocking out a set time to worry about it.

I do this in two ways. If I need to take some action with my laptop, like booking things and doing research, I’ll block out 30 minutes to an hour in my day to do that. Otherwise, I leave it to my bi-daily 30-minute swimming sessions to untie the knots underwater — it’s quite soothing.

This is similar to the productive meditation concept from Cal Newport — I’ll share how I do it and how it’s benefitted me in a later post.

The only thing is that this time has to have a defined start and end — and you go back to your normal activities outside of it. It’s a great way to gain clarity by being present with yourself and accepting your own emotions.

4 — Be ready to embrace change

“Whenever there is change, and wherever there is uncertainty, there is an opportunity!”

— Mark Cuban

We need to rewire our brains to believe that change is never bad — in fact, there is always something good that comes with it.

Whenever there is uncertainty, there is opportunity. If something bad could happen, doesn’t that mean something good could happen too? Risk is usually symmetrical to reward, but unlike the risk, the reward may not be immediately obvious — it’s up to us to discover it.

The reward doesn’t just come from the event itself; it also comes from the resilience we develop.

When you’ve seen the worst of the worst, can anything else get in your way?

That’s how to better cope with uncertainty.

Plan for the best, prepare for the worst, block out time to worry and be ready to embrace change.

If you’re going through a difficult time full of uncertainty about the future, remember that good times and bad times will come and go, and it’s never too late to regain control over what’s yours.

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