Today, I want to talk about something that I struggle with. It’s something that rears its ugly and ever-present head when it’s least welcome. And it’s something that pays an uninvited visit from time to time, sitting on my shoulder and being the worst distraction since Michael Scott discovered YouTube.
Can you guess what it is? Today I want to talk about the fallacy of certainty.
Ready? Or not?
Because are you ever truly and fully ready for anything at all?
Think about it. Every decision we make throughout the day is a fresh new chance that we’re taking. As decisive and resolute as a choice may feel, you, like me, probably can’t tell the future, so it’s impossible to be certain of, well, most outcomes. Let’s be real.
You can act with certainty, sure.
So let’s go back to motherhood and how certainty plays a role.
Big picture: every action you take and every decision you make is a risk that your brain swiftly, though not always strategically, calculates. Now, add the responsibility of seeing a child (or 2, or 3, or more!) to adulthood, and those risks are magnified. Tenfold. Per child.
And so, you’re preparing from the day you find out you’re going to be a parent and you never stop preparing. You’re steeling yourself for the hundreds, the thousands of decisions and touchpoints that come with being a parent, and preparing your child for adulthood. But again, you can’t predict the future.
You can love, teach, nurture, and lead with the certainty of legions of mothers before you. But you can’t predict the future.
I know, it’s scary, and that fear can lead to that crippling lack of certainty.
And we haven’t even gotten to career goals, the solopreneur grind, or anything about the you that’s not defined exclusively by motherhood.
But I think I’ve digressed a bit though. The long and short of it is this:
You don’t need to be 100% certain of the outcome to take action.
P.S. – Spare yourself the snarky self-sabotaging thoughts that might be going through your head. What’s the worst that can happen if you take that chance you’ve been putting off, and you set your plans into motion today?