Mindset Monday: Embracing Change, Chaos and Uncertainty

I like change and variety – it keeps me from getting bored and makes life interesting. Chaos, however, is a different story. I like order and knowing what to expect and being able to plan. I definitely feel that I’ve become more comfortable with uncertainty as I get older…which seems a bit counter intuitive. I’ve always been a bit of a risk taker and held the belief that everything will work out one way or another. After all, worry is a poor use of imagination, no?

One of my intentions for 2020 is to “Embrace the chaos, but control the controllables.” Most of the time we cannot control our circumstances, our situation, or what happens to us. All we can control is how we react and respond to our circumstances. We can only control our effort and our attitude. Both of these take work – some actual labor and some thought/mindset work.

Intellectually I know that overcoming challenges and obstacles are what makes us better and that all the “good stuff” is on the other side of failure and learning from it. But emotionally, the discomfort that comes from even thinking about doing something you might fail at, is a much harder beast to conquer. We’ve got to learn to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. After all, the discomfort that comes with chasing our dreams and overcoming challenges should be much more enjoyable than the discomfort of stagnation and never striving for the next best version of yourself.

How do you key into the intellectual knowledge that uncertainty and failure are good for growth and will ultimately lead to power and greatness and overcome the discomfort and anxiety of fearing failure? Just do the thing? Just take action?

John Maxwell says, “Growth is the only guarantee that tomorrow will be better.” And we can only grow by learning. We can only learn by trying and failing. If you never take a chance to make a change and experience even a moment of uncertainty, you will never know how much you can achieve, how much success, power {internal/mental/emotional/personal}, and greatness you can have. Embrace a growth mindset, embrace change – don’t resist it, and just see what a master of your own life, of your own reality you can become.