“If there’s one thing that’s certain in business, it’s uncertainty.” – Stephen Covey
I’ve had a very busy start to 2025. I started a new role at GitHub, in a newly formed global team, on a partnership model new to the company. I lost someone very dear to me in January, someone I spoke to regularly about change, emotions and what I should do next. I booked travel to Thailand alone to train Muay Thai and MMA for nearly three weeks which I’ve never done before. I started a new wave of therapy to support my autism diagnosis and how late diagnosis has impacted my mental health and life so far. It’s been a challenge. Stepping into the unknown all at once.
But it’s also been one of the best starts to the year for my confidence, self-esteem, resilience and growth.
Many years ago, a mentor of mine told me that to do well in life, I needed to get comfortable with uncertainty. At the time, I thought about it in the narrow lens of my job. Uncertainty with client behaviour. Uncertainty with business outcomes. Uncertainty with what the next project would look like.
In recent years, life has shown me exactly what this sentiment means.
For my career; I’ve been through multiple company restructures. I’ve advised on company restructures and organisational change. I’ve funded and defunded programmes that impacts research, products and ultimately, people’s jobs. I changed careers and taught myself to code during the pandemic. I’ve had my job title and scope change on day one of starting a new role. I’ve had team members be let go and others move onto bigger responsibilities at once, without teammates to fill the gap. I’ve had company priorities change and targets increased overnight. I launched my own business, podcast and retrained as a career coach whilst working a full time job. I’ve traveled the world with work, launching products in new markets, delivered talks in languages I can barely understand, and held meetings in cultures entirely different to my own. I’ve had products decommissioned we were sure never would be. I’ve seen AI change the tech landscape from consumer behaviour to public thought to product development and more. I’ve had governments and regulations influence the way we interact in certain countries and regions instantaneously. I’ve experienced toxic work environments and ones that are entirely the opposite throughout all these movements.
In my experience, in the roles I’ve had, it never feels safe, stable and unchanging. But, I’ve learned that embracing that, fully, is the key to my success, learning, growth and peace.
“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference”
Uncertainty is uncomfortable, but it’s inevitable. Learning to accept that the only people, place or thing in your control is yourself, your mind and your reaction to the events of the world, is a superpower.
In my personal life; I’ve been diagnosed with several mental health conditions and had various treatments impact the way I survive. I got sober and regained control of my life through recovery and healing. I left my home city, a city I said I’d never leave. I was diagnosed with autism at 30 with limited understanding of what this meant for my past and my future. I’ve lost all my friends overnight and taken months to build new ones. I lived in an abusive relationship and started my life anew from scratch. I have saved thousands and lost it all in moments when I needed to escape. I’ve supported friends and family and needed them to support me. All without warning, knowledge of the next move, or where these changes would take me.
One of the reasons I started Pathways Collective was because of the inevitability of uncertainty. Often, clients come to me concerned with their inability to control others. Control their family. Control their colleagues. Control the impacts of world leaders’ decisions. Control people’s perceptions of them. They might not use these terms, but the human need for control is well-evidenced, and often where I find unsettling feelings, apathy, procrastination and confusion stems from.
I encourage my clients, and those reading this post, to reflect on how uncertainty shapes your day-to-day. Be honest about what you can and cannot control. We all have the ability to influence, to be kind and vulnerable, to help others, to be honest and empathetic. Living in a world of uncertainty, for me, is just living. It’s a fact of life, of business, we must accept to find peace. Rejecting or struggling against this inevitability causes many of us to suffer, to act out of fear, resentment and distrust.
I ask you to make an effort to switch your narrative.
Be prepared not paranoid.
(P.S. if we knew the outcome to everything, every twist and turn, life would be incredibly dull… and we’d have nothing to talk about!)
If you’d like to learn more about coaching at Pathways Collective, please visit our website and reach out to me info@pathwcollective.com
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