Creative Rebellion Essays: Dealing with uncertainty
First rule. Be cool. Photo by John S. Couch
Coronavirus, political strife, wild swings in the stock market, and climate change (fires in Australia still rage and the west coast of the US will deal with it again soon). Compound all of these issues with a barrage of media hammering us from our smartphones as well as misinformation from the right and left and it’s no wonder that the world is more stressed than ever. Add to this the daily challenges of taking care of family, financial and work stresses, health issues, just getting to and from work, it’s no wonder that the world suffers from anxiety and depression. Therapy and prescription medications can provide some help. Alcohol and drugs only provide temporary relief and exacerbate the underlying issues. Religion and philosophy can provide a framework for handling the great unknowns (why are we here and what happens when we die) but ultimately the amygdala (two almond-shaped clusters deep in the brain) which is responsible for processing emotional responses works far faster than the logical frontal lobes.
Fear is actually a good thing in the right doses. We have survived as a species because we have the amygdala to react faster than we can think – it’s safer to initially register a shape on the ground in front of us to be a snake and then to realize that it’s actually just a stick. It’s our instinctual brain that moves us out of the way of an oncoming car before we can “think.” All well and good for the flight or fight switch to click on in these instances.
The problem is, of course, is that our switch is in permanent “on” mode due to conscious and subconsciously perceived threats all around us. And most of that is due to the uncertainty of just about everything right now. We calm down when we are certain about issues (ie the snake turns out to be a stick) but when we have no sense of where we are going and if there is anything we can actually do to affect positive change, we tend to go into a variety of emotions including anger, despair, and depression. The most common manifestation I’ve observed in others, and myself, is generalized anxiety.
So, what to do in these times? How does one deal with uncertainty, with the unknown?
My advice is to surrender to what is.
Let me explain. This doesn’t mean giving up. This means stopping the internal battle, and cognitive dissonance, between what we think the world should be and what it actually is. We are often in a constant battle to wrestle reality into alignment with how we think it should be rather than accepting that, for better or worse, it is what it is. I think that once we do this, we can see clearly for a moment, without being blinded by our entrenched points of view and need to convert others to our thinking, and then we can actually start to address issues strategically and without emotional attachment to being right, no matter what.
I’ll try to illustrate this in terms of product design. With creative endeavors, there is always the tabula rasa, the “blank slate,” that we are initially faced with. When designing, the best way to address the emptiness is to first clearly define the problem we are solving. What exactly is the customer need that hasn’t been addressed? How might we address this customer need? We develop hypotheses: a certain feature can be developed to make it easier for the customer to get to X. The next question is how to design the feature and the tabula rasa starts to get filled with ideas and sketches. The uncertainty is cut down. We have crisply framed the problem, taken action by developing hypotheses in feature and design to address the problem and next the product prototypes are developed. Prototypes are then tested with real customers to see how they really react. What is observed is then taken in to either refine the product (assuming we are on the right track) or we go back to the drawing board if our problem definition and hypotheses were completely off-base. Basically framing the problem (features + design) and testing it (prototypes). Once we are comfortable that the design is working, we roll it out to a cohort of people to get even more feedback. Then we roll the product out to an even larger group. If all is well, then it gets rolled out to the entire customer base.
This a system to reduce uncertainty.
In order to do this process, we have to surrender to what is. I may have a very strong point of view on a design solution (and I often do) but what I think should work and what actually works are sometimes completely at odds with each other. I could resist it. And sometimes you have to resist it or you would never have gotten the iPhone – initial reaction to the iPhone was, “I need a keyboard with my mobile phone.” Either way, the need to radically accept what is, to surrender to it, holds true whether you decide to refine a design (make a faster horse) or radically disrupt the paradigm (make a car). And sometimes you need a horse before you need a car. It’s all about timing.
Point is, when you are dealing with the unknown, it’s best to try to see it as it is. Define the problem to be addressed. Once you do, then you can decide how to apply your knowledge and experience to the challenge. I don’t care for design-by-committee and believe that, in the case of design, a strong creative point of view must be involved. But the strong point of view still has to be tempered with the ability to take input from dissenting voices. The strong point of view must be aware of its own biases. The work is done in the synthesizing of one’s own experience and point of view with potentially contradictory new information.
The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.
– F. Scott Fitzgerald
So, here are some simple techniques I use to deal with uncertainty.
Meditate
Use an app like Headspace or Waking Up. I personally use Headspace but there are a lot of good choices in the market. Taking classes with others in physical space is even more ideal (after the coronavirus ebbs); places like Insight LA, Lake Shrine or San Francisco Zen Center.
Center
Once you are centered, you can then see and accept reality without judgment or anger or fear. Meditation naturally leads to a centered mind.
Flow
If you engage with work, design, art, family or life in general in a state of centeredness, then it will lead to a state of flow. Time is suspended and the mind is without anxiety as it stays in the now.
All of this is, of course, easier said than done. But I often tell myself a mantra I wrote about in my book, when things are getting hairy:
First rule. Be cool.
Then allow the cloudy water of uncertainty to settle so you can see clearly through the glass.
And then take action.
John
What I’m re-reading:
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintainance – this book by Robert M. Pirsig, first published in 1974, was a huge influence on me when I first read it as a teenager. Upon re-reading, I realize how much I missed as a 17-year-old that only lands more concretely now that I’m much older. It’s an inquiry into epistemology and the scientific inquiry, written from the point of view of the author who had a schizophrenic breakdown when his former personality (“Phaedrus”) went too far into his pursuit into what defines good or bad “quality.” This is a gross oversimplification of the novel. I recommend reading it for the first time or re-reading it again if it’s been a while. It holds up.
Books picked by my daughter:
Maybe: A story about the endless potential in all of us – by Kobi Yamada and illustrated by Gabriella Barouch. This children’s book touches on topics I hold dear, especially the notion that you are unique. Truly unique and that you have really beaten the odds simply by existing in this place and time.
Color, Form and Magic: A Guide to Manifestation and Healing with Design – by IrisEyris / Nicole Pivirotto. This book covers the psychological meanings behind colors and shapes. And how to apply it to magic. (All art and design is magic to me).
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