Entrepreneurship requires becoming comfortable with uncertainty.

This is challenging because humans crave certainty, and we’ll do all sorts of things to feel that sense of certainty. 

We’ll work jobs we don’t like, stay in relationships that aren’t healthy and align ourselves with ideologies all for the sense of certainty that those bring us.

The desire for certainty makes sense from an evolutionary psychology perspective. Certainty equals survival in the Stone Age. And because our brains haven’t changed since the Stone Age, we still crave it.

Life as an entrepreneur feels challenging because we’re constantly navigating uncertainty. 

Starting a business or going out on your own as a solopreneur is a step in the opposite direction of certainty. 

Will your idea work? 
Will people pay you for it? 
Will you be able to sustain this for years?

Part of our brain is searching for certainty while the other part is charting a course into a future filled with uncertainty. This feels disorienting and creates a lot of second-guessing.

So how do we deal with the tension between craving certainty and moving forward into a future surrounded by uncertainty?

Here are a few practices that help me and the entrepreneurs that I coach deal with uncertainty:

Clarify your values

Getting clear on your values and then using them to set your course reinforces where you’re going and why you’re headed there. Your values are a filter that you run your decisions through. 

Shorten the timeframe

Uncertainty seems to increase the further we are from the horizon. Implementing a long-term strategy feels overwhelming if we only focus on the end goal. We can shorten the distance of our focus by looking for the next best step to take.

Reflect on where you are

Whether it’s journaling, going for a walk or working with a coach, reflection helps us see patterns in our thinking and behaviour and then move forward with more intention. Reflection also helps us see our progress, which builds momentum.

We can’t remove uncertainty from life, but we can learn to become more comfortable with it.