There’s a lot of uncertainty going on right now. No one is sure when the lockdown will
be over and everyone is kinda losing their minds. Everyone has their own way to deal
with uncertainty but not every approach makes things easier for yourself. There’s this
concept called the axis of uncertainty that I got from Matt D’Avella. There are those
who are underprepared and those who are over prepared and everyone else in between. There’s
also those who are in a state of panic and those who are calm. This axis of uncertainty
is sort of like those alignment charts. The place you want to be is in the calm and overprepared
zone but you don’t want to be too prepared. You have what you need and you are able to
act rationally. One thing to note is that there’s something called the law of diminishing
returns which applies to this situation. The more you prepare, the better you can handle
the situation but at some point, the benefits diminish and there is no point to continue
preparing. It’s a waste of your time and other people’s resources if you prepare
more than you are supposed to. To help you deal with uncertainty, here is a step by step
guide to help you be calm and prepared during uncertain times.
1. Do your research to prepare and make an informed decision. When faced with uncertainty,
being afraid is a natural reaction which is why you have to do some research to prepare.
Instead of asking yourself “what if?” you should be asking “what will I do if?”.
If you know how you will react if things go bad, it helps you remain calm. In this step,
you also want to plan for various possibilities instead of just the outcome you think is most
likely to happen. This is to ensure that no matter what happens, you are in a solid position
to handle what happens next and you can adjust accordingly.
2. Take action without overdoing it. Since you did your research, you now have a plan
of action and it's time to get to it. Do what you need to do to prepare for the tough times
ahead but you should keep the law of diminishing returns in mind while taking action. At some
point, the benefits diminish so you should stop over preparing.
3. Realize you did all you could do and don’t panic. You can only plan for so much. There
are always things outside your locus of control. Maybe you get into an accident or maybe some
pandemic hit. Regardless of what happens, there’s always something that will disrupt
your plans. If you continue doing the best you can and accept the fact that there are
many factors outside of your control, you can sleep peacefully knowing you did your
best. 4. Adjust your plan based on new information
that comes out. Sometimes, other people like the government or your boss will step in during
uncertain times to change the situation for better or for worse. Maybe there’s a new
rule enforced or maybe you got fired from your job or maybe there are stimulus checks
coming your way. Depending on what happens, you will have to adjust your plan and adapt.
You might even have to start from scratch and go back to step 1 and create a new plan.
You want to keep alert and stay on top of changes that will affect you. The sooner you
know something is happening, the sooner you can react. One thing to note is that you shouldn’t
check the news too much since it will wear you down mentally.
5. Manage your expectations. One of the biggest reasons why you might be stressed in uncertain
times is that you are comparing how you think things should be versus how things actually
are. It’s best not to have too many expectations for how things should be since there is so
much uncertainty that you don’t know what will happen. No one knows how things should
be going. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t set goals for yourself to accomplish during
these times though. It’s good to have goals for things you should be doing during uncertain
times but you shouldn’t make them your expectations otherwise you might end up disappointing yourself.
Set goals to keep yourself accountable and on track for what you need to do but make
them aspirations instead of expectations. There are multiple areas of life where you
need to accept uncertainty. The only thing you can be certain about is that there will
be some event that disrupts everything. No matter what happens in life, you have the
ability to control how you react to the situation. It’s hard to not get nervous or scared but
if you follow the step by step guide, you will feel a lot better. The information in
this video can be applied to other critical situations in your life aside from what’s
going on right now by the way. Also, if you find yourself panicking too much and checking
the news too often, you should take a break from checking the news. Checking for news
and updates every 15 minutes is not good for your mental health since it might send you
down a spiral of negativity. Take a break from the media and come back to it hours later
if you need the updates. How are you spending your time during the
lockdown? Leave a comment below and check out the video on the end screen if you liked
this video and want more content.