Maybe you’ve heard the news…
We’re living in uncertain times.
(**Insert eye roll at hearing this for the millionth time**)
Maybe you’ve also heard…
Times are always uncertain and uncertainty is just being amplified right now.
We’re being reminded that we can’t predict the future and there’s a lot we don’t have control over in our lives.
It’s our nature as humans to crave a certain level of certainty – because it’s also our nature to respond with fear and anxiety when things feel uncertain.
This is a completely normal response to uncertainty, and if you’re feeling this lately when it comes to your career or anything in your life, that’s ok. In fact, approaching the unknown with fear and caution is actually evolutionarily supported and considered to be an adaptive behaviour.
(I feel this often, FYI– pandemic or not. It’s why I know all this stuff. As much as I embrace uncertainty in my life and move towards it, it still causes me anxiety and fear – believe me, while there are ways to manage its severity, it’s part and parcel to creating a life you want.)
So, given that the fear around uncertainty is a given, how would it feel to just let the fear and the anxiety be there, without trying to change it or make it go away?
Most of our suffering in life comes from our reaction to the emotions that we have, rather than the initial emotion itself – and, as Buddhist teachings remind us, these reactions tend to show up as either resistance or craving. That is, our resistance to the fear and anxiety that comes up around uncertainty is what causes the majority of our suffering.
What if the best way to manage uncertainty is to first allow it – and all the emotions that come with it – to be there? How would that feel?
Stress makes us stupid – at least, that’s what the research says. It clouds our decision-making abilities.
So, step one to managing career uncertainty is to manage the emotions of fear, stress, and anxiety that arise. And the way to managing these emotions is to feel them fully, acknowledge them, and let them be there – I know, totally counterintuitive, right?
It can feel scary to do so sometimes, too – it might feel like we’ll spiral into those emotions forever if we go there. But generally, if we fully let emotions be and we feel them in their entirety, we won’t be stuck in them for long – my personal experience is no more than 10-20 minutes.
(Note: If you have or are experiencing trauma, this may or may not be different. If you have trauma in your past and are inexperienced with going into your emotions, find a trained guide to support you.)
On the other hand, if we don’t feel an emotion and we suppress it because we don’t want to be feeling that way, it will linger in the background and impact all kinds of things, from our health to our mood to our ability to think clearly and solve problems.
That sums up managing uncertainty tip #1: Allow and feel the emotions that come up.
On the other side of all that emotion awaits creativity and possibility.
We plan our lives as though we live in a stable and predictable world and not surprisingly, our plans rarely work out as expected – ‘cause the world is messy!
COVID-19 is just an extreme example of this.
Learning how to navigate the messy world, staying open to opportunities and possibilities, while still moving in the general direction we want to go is key.
If you follow me anywhere else online, you’ve probably heard me say my COVID-19 catchphrase (that is often relevant when we’re not in a pandemic, too):
The train track many of us saw our lives on (knowing the next goal, the next landmark, the next destination) has been derailed. Now, if we look up from our train wreck, there’s a tree over there; there’s a mountain over yonder.
A couple of weeks after COVID-19 started to become “real”, there was a steep decline in my business. Clients who had agreed to work with me changed their minds and I stopped getting new contacts. I was worried. However, I quickly started thinking: What else might be possible here?
I talked to a friend who runs a marketing company and asked if he could hook me up with some contract work if I needed it – he could. But that conversation just affirmed how much I don’t want to work for someone else and propelled me forward with other ideas.
I then realized this could be a great time to develop one of the online courses I’d been wanting to develop for ages but hadn’t found the energy or motivation to start. Building an online program to help people start a side business right now could be something that people need and I could help with – I reached out to my photographer and business friend, Jamie Poh, and asked if she wanted to collaborate on the project and she agreed.
While my business has picked up again, I’m still so happy for that lull because I’m now collaborating with an amazing person to create a course I’ve been dreaming about for ages.
I can’t emphasize enough what an important career skill it is to be adaptable. Pandemic or not, things can change on a dime – large companies can collapse and jobs can be lost. I frequently talk to people who have been at what they thought was a “stable” company, yet they’ve been laid off or had to leave their job for one reason or another.
Things change quickly in today’s world!
While we may envision one route for our career, being aware that it probably won’t happen exactly the way we imagine, and remaining open to other possibilities (that still propel our growth), is immensely helpful.
Even pursuing opportunities that fail or fall through can bring us to a new vantage point that helps us to see or attract other possibilities we wouldn’t necessarily have seen otherwise.
That sums up managing uncertainty tip #2: Always be open to new possibilities and opportunities.
Ok, let’s get super tangible here.
What direct actions can you take to create more stability and mitigate against uncertainty in your career?
It’s NOT getting hired at a “stable” company (because they hardly exist).
It’s not even getting a government job – governments turn over every three or four years, and changes and cuts get made.
You could become Prime Minister and have stability until the next election…
OR, you could build a strong personal brand and actively maintain and grow your network so there are always new opportunities coming your way – and you can quickly find something new when you need it.
What’s a personal brand?
It’s basically a story of what you’ve done in the past, what you liked/didn’t like about it, and how that ties into what you do now. It’s also having a clear area of expertise – which is usually a business/personal challenge that you help to solve – and communicating that expertise through content online and in-person (which in our current world, equates to video chats ? ).
Your brand might also include quirks about your personality or unique experiences you’ve had. For example, part of my brand is that I’m an introvert – and it’s not uncommon for me to get an email from someone who says they want to work with me because they’re an introvert, too.
Communicating your brand online could range from having your own website and media platform (e.g., blog, podcast, YouTube channel, etc.), to posting articles on LinkedIn, to simply sharing other people’s relevant content on social media and sharing one or two of your own thoughts about it.
This helps to attract people to you and establish your expertise – and with that, comes opportunity.
But it’s a long game, which is why it’s important for career stability to be up-to-date and active with your brand consistently – even when you think your job or business is stable.
Keep in mind this doesn’t have to be complex and requires no more than 5-10 minutes a day.
Keep up with your network by making a list of 20ish ties you want to engage with regularly – people you admire, feel a connection to, and who work in an area of interest to you. Genuinely engage regularly by commenting on social media, sending an email, or even setting up a video chat (and maybe one day, post-COVID, a coffee chat – oh my!).
Send a thank-you note for something specific they shared that helped you, pass along an article or podcast you think they might enjoy, or connect over a shared interest not related to work (do you both like tennis? solo travel? wine? – talk about it).
This is one way of potentially attracting new opportunities even when you’re not looking for them, and also ensuring you have people you can ask for help when you need it.
If you’re self-employed and your ideal business isn’t stable yet, having your eggs in other baskets to build stability is helpful, too – if one source of income fails, you have another one to fall back on (kind of like a three-legged chair – if you loose one leg, you can still stand, kinda sorta.)
That sums up managing uncertainty tip #3: Have a strong personal brand and interact regularly with your network.
Uncertainty is a part of life and the sooner we learn to manage it, the easier our ride will become.
Becoming not necessarily comfortable, but at least “ok” with being uncomfortable is the key to growth both inside and outside of our careers.
Uncertainty offers a massive opportunity for growth, personal development, and career development if we keep our eyes open to what might be possible.
One big thing I’m learning from my coach lately is that there are always possibilities. What’s possible might shift and change but possibilities are always there.
Possibility – possibility – possibility.
My new favorite word ?
-Rebecca
