“Sometimes your only available transportation is a leap of faith.”
Margaret Shepherd, Author, artist
Instability, insecurity, doubt, the unexpected. However you think of it, it’s probably occupies a pretty large part of your mental space as you try to land new clients, sell homes, and manage “the business of you” on a day-to-day basis. Like the saying “the only constant is change,” it’s true that “the only certainty is uncertainty.” No one (on Earth, anyway) can predict all the possible outcomes.
To be confidently productive there are two things you need to keep in mind: 1) It’s crucial to manage your response to doubt, and 2) Mentally prepare for the unexpected.
In the first case, resist the temptation to allow your doubt to unreasonably restrict your decisions. There’s a sensible amount of risk/benefit and forecasting to be done around any considered move, but there’s very little possibility of a sure thing. Take your analysis to just short of the point of diminishing returns. If you feel yourself in a loop of “What about this? And what about this?” you’ve probably exhausted your useful worrying. Take the leap of faith and act.
In the second case, it’s valuable to plan for delays, twists, setbacks, and all-out disasters. No, you probably can’t predict what they’ll be, when they’ll happen, or how long they’ll last, but you can tell yourself, “There’s a good chance something I’m not expecting will come up.” It sounds simple, but if you budget a portion of your emotional bandwidth to be prepared for the unexpected, the unexpected exacts a much smaller toll when it arrives.
Don’t let the unknowns keep you from getting there. Hop on the leap of faith every day and you’ll get further faster than waiting around for the “sure thing express.”
