For Entrepreneurs, Uncertainty is a Part of Daily Life – Accepting the Inevitable Anxiety of This ‘High Stakes Waiting’ Game is Half the Battle
Believe it or not, there is a science of uncertainty. Some psychologists actually study and conduct research in this field.
In other words, this field of study deals specifically with how people – including small-business owners, of course – cope with what is technically described as “high stakes waiting.”
For laundromat owners, this can refer to dealing with the uncertainty of expected and hoped-for positive results from an expensive marketing program, waiting for a submitted request for financing for a much-needed store retooling to be approved, or numerous other examples.
It’s a strong likelihood that everyone has experienced the excruciating feeling that comes with waiting for certain personal or professional news. Perhaps you were waiting for results from a medical test or to hear back about whether or not your lease extension request has been granted. Most people find this kind of waiting distressing, and many of us spend that time anxiously ruminating over every possible outcome – and often anticipating the very worst one.
Dr. Kate Sweeney, a professor of psychology at the University of California-Riverside, studies these stressful periods and how people respond to them. Psychologists actually don’t know that much about waiting and uncertainty.
Dr. Sweeney noticed that scientists in social psychology had studied such topics as existential uncertainty or ambiguity of information – but not that familiar, gut-wrenching feeling of not knowing something you really want to know.
As a result, she introduced the “Uncertainty Navigation Model,” which is a theoretical framework for understanding the thoughts, feelings and behaviors that arise during these difficult waiting periods. Over the years, Sweeney and her team of researchers have studied an array of specific groups as they waited for information in high stakes situations, including law school students awaiting bar exam results and people waiting for the results of medical tests.
From her research, Dr. Sweeney discovered that people tend to display unrealistic levels of optimism when predicting what will happen in their future; however, their optimism often drops as they approach the “moment of truth,” such as students who are just about to receive their graded exams. That shift occurs in part because they are preparing themselves for the possibility of bad news.
Other research results have focused on developing coping strategies that can help make these waiting periods more manageable. One such strategy is a concept called “flow,” which essentially is a state of complete immersion within one single activity.
When individuals feel as if time is passing more slowly, they actually report feeling more distressed. Therefore, one of the keys to coping with the stress of uncertainty is to get your mind off of the waiting and onto something that will make the time feel as if it’s passing more quickly.
Flow can take the form of a new hobby or interest in which you can fully immerse yourself and that is completely unrelated to your laundry business – in fact, the further removed from your day-to-day laundromat operation, the better. Some of the best forms of flow involve daily exercise, such as running, biking, swimming or training at a gym.
No doubt, uncertainty is truly one of the most under-addressed sources of suffering. It’s also something that many people feel uncomfortable talking about, fearing they will be labeled as immature or child-like. However, uncertainty is truly worth understanding, because it has a direct impact on your personal and business lives.
After all, if there’s one thing that is certain in business life, it’s uncertainty. Accept it, embrace it – and find the best ways you can to personally cope with it. And, remember, you’re not alone.
