Uncertainty Tolerance and Navigating Change

Two years ago…

I was offered an assignment as an interim sales leader for a fast-growing energy company. It would have been good money, and I certainly needed the cash flow, but something just did not sit right with me. So, I turned it down.

It threw me straight back into financial uncertainty and a mild form of panic, a state I had already been navigating for a while — and I literally wondered if I was an idiot.

Then something happened three days later…

Have you noticed that following your gut often leads you right into a place of uncertainty?

A painful kind of uncertainty. The kind that hurts because it hits you right outside your comfort zone.

How we deal with this differs, but it tends to trigger our reptile brain. Some of us freeze. Some feel abandoned. Others get annoyed and try to fight their way out, while some keep denying reality, feeling victimized. Personally, I am guilty of it all.

However, when you end up in uncertainty or have to navigate major changes, there are some deep personal benefits to be found, like grit and what I call Uncertainty Tolerance.

Three ways uncertainty forces us to build grit and uncertainty tolerance

1. 1Often, once the initial fear subsides, our nervous system learns to relax, and our increased awareness overcomes our reptile brain. It learns that it was not that bad after all.
2. 2We get a first-hand look into our own psyche: Where am I weak? Where am I strong? And where does this reaction even come from?
3. 3And finally, best of all, there is delayed gratification. Our brains might have forgotten how that feels due to endless scrolling and instant AI answers, but delayed gratification gives us something much deeper: personal satisfaction and a sense of self-realization after effort.

All three of these are can-do character-shaping experiences. They give us gravity, staying power, and uncertainty tolerance. Exactly what we need in today's world.

Here is a simple but highly effective tool to help yourself: Look back at your life. When did you face genuine uncertainty in the past? How did it end? What did it lead to?

If you look in your rearview mirror, hasn't it almost always worked out for the best anyway? Maybe not exactly as you had planned or hoped, but hasn't it always sorted itself out?

Three days later…

As for the assignment I turned down two years ago: just three days later (yes, only three), I got a call out of the blue. I was offered an interim role at an AI startup. Looking back, that assignment gave me much foundational AI experience I still draw upon today.

I am sure you have similar stories, feel free to share yours with me.

/Maurice

Maurice Jenkens is the founder of The Intuitive Leader™. He helps founders and senior decision-makers navigate complexity by measuring and trusting their intuition.