When you’re in a ‘quick sand’ landscape, is a decision record still a useful tool?
Do past decisions hold any ground for future opportunities? How do we learn in the face of uncertainty? How do we make decisions on what is important (so we can focus)?
This is an exploration in multiple parts. So far, I have cooked part I:
First, I want to tackle the idea of uncertainty and the context it creates. I believe it can be self-imposed or outer-induced. The direction and what drives each, also informs how we respond to it.
Take self-imposed uncertainty – we want to try something new, we want to challenge ourselves, we want to give ourselves the chance to be ambitious, we want to discover ourselves. It implies taking risks, but because it’s a choice we make we feel in control of the situation. For how long?
Taking the leap to do so requires some amount of curiosity. What other ingredients are in the mix? Are they catalysing or do the have the potential to become a burden of process?
Outer-induced uncertainty on the other hand has different ways of showing up. Sometimes it’s straight in our face, presenting with no other choices than to respond. Sometimes it’s subtle and may even disguise as inner turmoil. And sometimes… it turns up to us and poses a dare – we feel like we have a choice, to take the dare or resist it altogether.
Because we’re not the ones to choose it, we might feel an increased sense of powerlessness in front of it. But it goes on the side of different approaches and it’s the most likely case where mindset shines and is an essential tool for how we respond to it.
But wanting to be certain kills curiosity. And how can we learn without curiosity?