The Antidote to Uncertainty (It’s Not What You Think)

In an unpredictable world—elections, layoffs, economic swings—our brains scramble for meaning, often defaulting to worst-case scenarios. In this episode, discover how to combat uncertainty—our biggest productivity killer. We also discuss: 

• Understand how uncertainty triggers your brain's threat response
• How uncertainty kills creativity and innovation
• Hear how a horse taught a life-changing lesson about fear and the present moment
• 3 Techniques to help navigate uncertainty

Mentioned on the Show: 

The Career Refresh Episode 8: Fear and Job Performance

Chapters

• 0:00 Introducing Uncertainty as Today's Topic
• 2:36 How Uncertainty Affects Our Work and Minds
• 5:46 The Antidote to Uncertainty Is Being Present
• 9:12 My Horse Therapy Breakthrough
• 11:51 Practical Tools to Stay Present
• 17:03 Speaking Kindly to Yourself During Anxiety

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hey, welcome back to the Career Refresh podcast. I am your host, jill Griffin, and today we are talking about a favorite or perhaps unfavorite topic of mine, and that is uncertainty. And everyone's talking about it, even if they're not actually saying the words, whether it's the state of the world, the state of your workplace, the state of your life. There is a lot of uncertainty out there, and what I have found over the years is that the antidote to uncertainty is not certainty. I know seems like it would be. We're going to dig into it now and talk about what it is, what's going on and what you can do as day-to-day tasks to start to alleviate some of that uncertainty, which shows up often as fear or anxiety or stressed Ready, let's dig in. Okay, in today's market, everything from the work environment to the media, to mainstream media, to news, to politics it is a constant barrage of information made to help you stay connected, and to stay connected means that you're constantly getting hit with all this information. What I am telling you right now is not new. You know this. But what we're starting to see is there's even a McKinsey survey about 79% of employees report that workplace uncertainty directly impacts their productivity, and workers are losing on average of a little over two hours a day in work-related distraction because of uncertainty. There's another study from the American Psychological Association that found that 64% of professionals cite uncertainty as their primary workplace stressor, which is ahead of the workload, the jerky colleague or poor management. So this uncertainty doesn't just affect our output. It erodes our relationships and we also have seen recently there's a study that says 58% of employees report increased tension with colleagues during peak periods of organizational change and restructuring. And as we're looking at the news, as companies are restructuring, potentially downsizing and doing layoffs, that's when this all starts to bubble. Above its main line, innovation suffers. Companies are experiencing a 31% decrease in creative problem solving and this is all, according to the Harvest Business Review. All right. So why? I always love to go to science that our brains aren't wired for uncertainty? We can handle a little bit of science that our brains aren't wired for uncertainty? We can handle a little bit, but this level of prolonged uncertainty is just too much for our brains to handle. Right Between elections and COVID, and then more election and economic uncertainty and job market turbulence and mainstream media reminding you you know, bees attack.

Speaker 1: 3:02

It could happen to you, right Like that whole strain of like making you anxious, making you tune in so they can get the ratings, they can get the money. Listen, I worked in media my whole life. I get how it works right, so I just want you to be aware of it. What's happening is the amygdala right in your brain. It's the threat detection. It's that light housing or beaconing like what's going on, is everything okay, is something going to happen next? And it interprets ambiguity as potential danger. It also interprets the unknown the future, a minute from now, an hour from now, a month from now, a year from now. The unknown is what creates that anxiety, because we like control and we like to know.

Speaker 1: 3:40

So this triggers that fight or flight response that I talk about and it floods our bodies with neurochemicals, also known as stress hormones, and it pulls all the resources away from our prefrontal cortex, right what we know to be true for sore, in that a stretch situation releases both DHEA and cortisol. It depends on which of those hormones, depending on your thoughts. So if you are stressed because you think the line is going to eat you, it is DHEA, it is fear, all secondary systems shut down because we need to be able to run. If you're like all right, I got a challenge in front of me. What am I going to do About to get on the court? Maybe it's sport related. Maybe you're in a new business pitch and you want to compete against another team. That's cortisol, right? That actually brings attention to the prefrontal cortex. So the difference between the two, between that level of stress both are stress, but the difference is the thought that connects to it.

Speaker 1: 4:42

So this result we spend precious amount of mental energy attempting to predict the future and we create scenarios that may never materialize. And listen, if you are creating scenarios that don't materialize and they're all good and great, have at it, go for it, right, because it's keeping you in a buoyant state. I'm not suggesting that you'd be delusional and lie to yourself. I'm just saying, if you're saying you know, matt, maybe it will work out, if you want to spend time there, I'm all for it. It's that we often spend time in that negative bias that our brains have and we think about scenarios that will never materialize and experiencing that anxiety. It's about outcomes that we can't control. How many times have you been in a situation where you think to yourself you know what, if that ever happens again? This is what I'm going to say to them. And if they say this, I'm going to say that. Or if they write that, I'm going to write this, and guess what? The scenario never plays out. It never happens. The only place it's playing out is in your head.

Speaker 1: 5:47

So I am not taking away from all of us that there are real we're living in strange times, right. I'm not taking away that there is not real uncertainty in various pockets, but there's also things that you can be certain about. So the path forward here is understanding that the antidote to uncertainty isn't certainty, it's being present. And when we anchor ourselves in the present moment, we can recognize that right now, in this moment, in this instance, I'm a woman sitting in a chair on a gray day that's drizzly and rainy, recording a podcast. I'm not what's going on in the job market. I'm not what's going on in my business. I'm not what's going on in the economic uncertainty. To having a chat, it's a completely different way of approaching because it keeps me present. So what we know is that when we come back, we can recognize in the instant that we're okay and most fear only exists in the future. It's a timeline hasn't occurred and it may never come to pass.

Speaker 1: 6:50

A little bit more research. University of California found that individuals who practice mindfulness techniques show a 28% reduction in stress hormones and report a 40% improvement in focus when they are in periods of uncertainty. And then the Journal of Occupational Health and Psychology demonstrated that employees that stay in present moment awareness techniques and that are trained in them and are practicing them are able to have improved resilience and better handle workplace challenges. That's why I meditate every day Well, almost every day. That's why I've even learned how to meditate on the subway. I know now how to lean and drop into meditation so that I can manage my mind and stay present. Now I'm going to tell you a little story. I did an episode about this about two or so years ago. I'll drop the link in the show notes, but it is the day that it really clicked for me about being present.

Speaker 1: 7:46

So if you've been listening for a while, you know that I had a head injury and the PTSD of falling again or having my head get hit again is something that I mean. Maybe it'll go away someday, but it's always kind of there. Even when I go to the gym, I'm really cautious, I'm really careful. I'm afraid of falling. I don't really need that. I'm also on freelancer's health insurance, so I definitely don't need that. But it was suggested to me that I go and consider using equine therapy. It's something that the US military uses with soldiers to help them with PTSD and to help them recover. You can read about why it works. I'm not going to get into that there. I'm just going to sit here and tell you that I had this experience where I'm now standing in a ring with a therapist who's a psychologist in addition to a specialist in equine therapy, and she's telling me well, she hands me a carrot and she's telling me no matter what, stay still and stay present.

Speaker 1: 8:46

Now I'm in a ring where there's probably 50 to 75 horses. These horses are what? 1200 pounds, 1500 pounds, and they're everything from Clydesdales, you know, full-on work horses to race horses. They all are rescue horses, basically, have been in unfortunate and horrible situations and they're at this farm. So the horses are just doing their thing, walking around the ring. Some of them are running and galloping, other of them are just having a snack, and I'm sitting here again in the middle of the ring and my mind is racing because, as they're picking up speed and the ones that are running. I can feel the wind that they're creating as it goes by me and I'm like, okay, this horse is going to accidentally hit me, its shoulder, essentially, is going to hit me and I'm going to be propelled God knows where. So I was getting, I could see the reaction in my body and that I was starting to tremble.

Speaker 1: 9:43

And as that anxiety, that future tripping, started to peak, the therapist kept saying don't move, don't move, stay, stay. Like the way I would talk to my dog. Stay, don't move, stay, stay. Like the way I would talk to my dog Stay, stay present, don't move. And she just kept saying that. And meanwhile I've had like a string of profoundities in my head, like are you bleeping, kidding me right now? And then I started to realize, as I saw a horse galloping towards me, that in this moment I'm fine and in this moment I'm fine, and in this moment I'm fine and in this second I'm fine.

Speaker 1: 10:22

It's only when I future trip out a couple of seconds or a minute away, that I start to realize that that fear might be real, but in this moment, where I'm standing here and that horse is far enough away, it's not real. And I know it may sound insane, but in that moment it clicked to me the understanding of why we always tell people to stay present, because it's in the presence that I'm just a woman with boots in muck, standing in a ring with a lot of horses around me, so anchoring myself in the present feeling, my feet on the ground, noticing my breathing. Anchoring myself in the present feeling, my feet on the ground, noticing my breathing, really watching that fear subside. And at the end, when the horse completed its circuit of running, it did come over and lick my hand. It was nudging a pocket to try to find the carrot. All very sweet and not threatening at all.

Speaker 1: 11:19

I love horses. I'm not afraid of horses. To be clear, I was afraid of the impact of a you know, 1,200-pound horse or vehicle hitting me. It was so profound, it really transformed how I started to approach uncertainty and that when I feel that anxiety rising and listen, I live with a low grade of anxiety every single day. Why? Because I'm constantly predicting or trying to navigate the future and that's where I constantly have to come back to the present and I know that it's a signal that I can tap in to some tools and that's what I want to share with you.

Speaker 1: 11:51

There's the 5-4-3-2-1 technique when your anxiety starts to spike and you feel yourself panicky. For me it's a tightness in my chest, it's a tightness in my throat. I start to feel my heartbeat because of when I fell. I hear through bone now. So the sound of my own heartbeat every day is always like a bass drum or something echoing in my head, but it goes above its baseline.

Speaker 1: 12:20

So finding, really quickly, staying present, five things you can see the floor, the window, the picture on the wall, the carpet, the dog. Four things you can touch the floor, the window, the picture on the wall, the carpet, the dog. Four things you can touch the desk, the keyboard, the microphone, the. What else can I touch? My eyeglasses, right and going through that, three things that I can hear. And even if you can't hear anything, then it's the sound of silence. Right, I can hear rustling of animals, squirrels and stuff outside. I can hear the rustling of the trees, those kinds of things. Two things that you can smell. Listen, one of them might be your own breath, and that's okay. And then one thing you can taste, which also might be the toothpaste you had this morning, the sip of coffee you had moments ago or the taste of your own taste. Those things rapidly bring you back to the present, because you can't be future tripping while you're also trying to look for four things that you can touch right. It's not possible. The next thing is finding a three-minute breathing space. You can just count it, you can put it on your phone, you can do box breathing, breathe in for four, hold for two or four, out for four. Right, finding that moment and spending a minute focusing solely on your breath. And this is where you start to be able to regulate your body and bring it down and stay present.

Speaker 1: 13:41

The next thing I'm going to tell you is to question those predictions when the future starts, or when yourself starts to ask you about your future, saying you know this is going to happen, it's gonna be like this and I'm going to get laid off and this is da-da-da-da-da, all the things. Well, ask yourself is this going to happen? What evidence do I have? Can I prove that it's going to happen? What is actually happening right now? When you start to ask yourself your questions, you will know and you will notice that you are in the future tripping of your anxiety. And it feels true, I get it. It feels true, but it's not true because you can't prove it.

Speaker 1: 14:19

There's a way of constantly coming back to yourself and learning how to practice these tools. And come back to managing your mind. The last thing I'd say for today is I want you to speak to yourself as if you were talking to someone you absolutely adore. When your thoughts rise and you have these thoughts about oh my God, what's going to happen, you wouldn't yell at someone you loved or adored because they were having these thoughts. I'm guessing there's probably some version of you that's like hey, hey, hey, hey, calm down, we're going to be all right. We're going to be all right. Okay, all right, let's just sit together for a bit, right? There's some level that you would look to soothe that person and not tell them to calm down or to like get over it, or I don't know why you keep thinking this way, but so often that's what we do to ourselves. We aren't kind to ourselves, and one of the ways that I always think about it is I have a mini poodle chihuahua mix.

Speaker 1: 15:21

We got her from the shelter, so I only know parts of her backstory A lot of food scarcity in her background, and if you know anything about chihuahuas. You know that they are shakers, shaky, shake, right, they are nervous and they shake a lot. She shakes like crazy about 10 minutes before her scheduled mealtime. She's in complete fear. She can't concentrate, she's shaking. She's shaking, I mean it breaks your heart.

Speaker 1: 15:45

Looking at her, right, I'm not going to look at my dog. Her name is Charlie. I'm not going to look at my dog and say, hey, charlie, calm down, knock it off. No one anywhere telling somebody to calm down has ever worked. I'm going to say, which is what I've done twice a day for eight years All right, sweetie, you will always have food. As long as you were together, you will always have food. I'm as you wear it together. You will always have food. I'm going to feed you. I want you to have that kind of tone to yourself. Speak nicely to yourself.

Speaker 1: 16:23

And we do this because the brain, going back to that amygdala, starts to calm down when we are in the sensation of fear or anxiety. We are in the physical sensation and we're in that panic. We need that to settle down, which is one of the ways of doing it is to calming yourself by any of these exercises I talked about, and then, once that's settled, guess what your prefrontal cortex can. Come back online and start to think strategically about what you want to do next when you're in it. You can't think You've heard that you can't read the label from inside the jar when you're in it. You can't think You've heard that you can't read the label from inside the jar when you're in it. You can't think you need to be out of the sensation of fear and anxiety in order to think All right, friends, listen, practicing presence, practicing being present using these tools.

Speaker 1: 16:57

Go Google around and find some others if these aren't the ones that work for you, but I want you to practice navigating and understanding that you are navigating uncertainty, but you're trying to navigate it with certainty, and the only thing that's certain are your own thoughts. You have to navigate uncertainty through being present. This allows us to maintain focus, creativity and really keep connections with people, despite whatever the world has in store for us. All right, I appreciate you so much and if you want to have, if you have any questions and you want to send them to me, email me at hello at jillgriffincoachingcom. I will answer them, I'll email you back, I'll bring them on the show. Just practice presence and have a great week. Okay, be kind to yourself, talk to you soon. Bye.