Trust, Uncertainty and Adaptation – ElPropósito4 min de lectura

Three values that get us to our destination through rough weather

Photo by Ricardo Frantz on Unsplash

Human beings have endless potential to find new ways of doing things. Much of the key to unlocking it lies beyond the ways of thinking, attitudes and feelings that, in certain moments, narrow our view and hold us back without our noticing. Here’s how to manage those limits so you can build trust, handle uncertainty and adapt to the world we’re living in.

Learning plays a leading role as we work our way toward what we set out to do. Choosing a mindset of constant learning lets us see goals and challenges from many angles, and it may be the best way to spot what I mentioned above: whatever is holding us back and dragging down our performance.

In highly volatile environments, uncertainty runs the show. Staying focused is hard when things change from one moment to the next. Some tools stay constant, though, and help loosen uncertainty’s grip and build confidence. Picturing one or several short-term visions, for example, lets us sketch scenarios, pick one and then set goals that are always very short term. The long-term horizons we had may need to go on hold for a while. Right now, what matters is securing the short term.

Our reason for being (for people and companies alike) stays constant over time. "Who I am, or who we are, and why we exist" keeps alive the value system that guides every decision, and it’s also our main source of options for getting out of any situation. What changes as we go deeper into the jungle or higher up the mountain are the strategies we keep shaping.

Which brings me to the last point. Which strategies have worked for you so far? Flying in bad weather is never a good idea. Pilots learn to fly by instruments so they can get out of bad weather when it catches them, and they never fly into it on purpose. There are always other routes or airports if needed, and knowing that lets them stay fully focused.

Everything we’re living through calls for us to take out our compass (our Purpose, Mission and Values) and build scenarios with several solutions that keep us true to our reason for being (turn on the instruments, know our alternate airports and so on), and with that, reach our destination (our Vision).

From there, the job is to shape or use the strategy, or strategies, that let us take the steps we need to move forward (knowing we may sometimes step back). It also helps to keep a list of the "good practices" that have won us small victories and give us a sense of focus, which matters more than a sense of control. And celebrate the small wins.

At the end of the day, what are we after? Lessons, strategies and new ways of doing things. Practicing those three, and paying attention to what they tell us along the way, we’ll build confidence (by getting results), handle uncertainty (knowing the path we chose is working) and adapt much faster than we’re used to.

Two questions to reflect on: What have you learned so far? What would you do differently from now on?

Warm regards and my best wishes as always,

Rodrigo Baccaro

This week’s VELA:

• What I’ve been Viewing: How to remember what you read. A video by Tim Ferriss, one of my favorite authors. I liked it mostly for the tips on remembering as you read. My memory is very short term, and my mind tends to wander while I read. I have my own strategies for reading a book and, above all, trying to remember it, but this video blew past my expectations. Worth it.
• What I’ve been Listening to: Freelancing, Self-Employment, and Mental Health. An HBR podcast, from "The Anxious Achiever". In times like these, those of us who are self-employed need resources to stay focused and, above all, calm enough to think and stay on course. I liked this episode for its take on time management and the self-discipline you have to keep up, ALWAYS.
• What I’ve been Reading: The Tunnel. Another Sabato book I first read about 21 years ago and have rediscovered. What a novel! Fantastic and hard to put down. Some books are worth reading again and again, and this is one of them.
• What I’ve been Learning: How to create commands on the Mac. I wanted an OS X command or service that would automatically open a dictionary or something that translates whole sentences, beyond single words. I found this short tutorial, and for a non-programmer like me it felt like the discovery of a lifetime. Worth it, because now I’m creating lots of other commands to get the most out of my Mac.

"Superhuman effort isn’t worth a damn unless it achieves results"
Ernest Shackleton

Ernest Shackleton

Author: Rodrigo Baccaro

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