Damn It

Certainty is one of the three c's along with comfort and convenience that erodes creativity, courage, and curiousity and replaces it with the mire and muck of complacency. In my opinion, we need more uncertainty, inconvenience, and discomfort. I am not suggesting a perpetual masochistic deception but an acceptance of insecurity and suffering. Occasionally, we should embrace our doubts, the delays and lineups, and the minor pinch points of growth and change. There is much to learn, appreciate, and correct when we experience the real world rather than pretend and delude ourselves that everything is okay or will be fine.

Certainty justifies and facilitates intimidation and bullying. As a 'leader,' if you are so sure that you are right, you stop listening and stop asking questions. You stop widening your knowledge and begin digging a narrow trench. Possibilities and options look irrelevant. Outsiders start to look dangerous from the rut, so the ditch gets deeper to keep them at bay. Soon, they are so far removed from the trench worldview that their unclean ideas feel like a threat, so you put them down and diminish their worth whenever you can. When the chasm is broad and deep, we shout at one another rather than benefit from dialogue. The self-fulfilling prophecy of mutual resentment leads to ad hominem mudslinging. He said" nasty stuff," they said "nastier stuff," and the barrage escalates until someone is pushed too far. Weirdly, the bullying becomes self-effacing, serving to quell and quiet any rustlings of purpose and worth and especially any creeping doubts that "I might not be right." To continue the charade, you need to have convinced yourself that all is well on the homefront.

Certainty means that I don't need to be creative because "my way is the right way." Comfortably entrenched, I punch the clock and trust the "tried and true." If we weren't so confident, we could be open to the possibility of different ideas and positions. When was the last time that you attempted a new approach for the first time? Have you paused and reflected on why we do what we do when we do it? Could you be curious about how, why, what you believe, and you might be open to listening to my how, why, what?

I am not a scientist, and I don't play one on TV, but here is my simple understanding of the Uncertainty Principle.

The Heisenberg uncertainty principle is a rule. It says there is a limit to how well you can simultaneously know the position and momentum of a particle. This means if you know the position very precisely, you can only have limited certainty about its momentum and vice-versa.

Besides a bit of Charlie Brown's teacher going "Whaa whaa whaa", I hear that even the most empirical things are dependent on externalities and perspective. If we delve into the esoteric, the certainty should be impacted more by what I know, where I am standing (literally and metaphorically), how I got to the narrow moment, why I want an outcome, and who is watching.

This applies across various subjects, including humanities, religion, politics, enjoyment, health and medicine, law, and meteorology (maybe everything). However, that is what interests me the most. How do I appear so confident, act with confidence and stake my reputation (some would say my life) on a conclusion that has so much of me in the criteria and process?

As I move forward, researching, thinking, discussing, and writing about the uncertainty this year, I am going to hold onto my explanation of Heisenberg and use it as a reminder to stand on one foot, tip my head and squint, so I see a different point of view.

How do you lean into uncertainty? Are you sensitive to the perspectives of others? Is your curiosity strong enough to keep you searching?

I challenge all of you to be observant today and throughout the week for opportunities where you are sure of your position or conclusion and then lean into uncertainty and see how uncomfortable it makes you. Stay curious.

Make today Remarkable by leaning into uncertainty,

B