Learn to Navigate Change in Times of Uncertainty by Joan P. Ball

The days of work/life balance (if they ever existed) are over—and it didn’t start with COVID. Anthropologist Mary Catherine Bateson encapsulates the challenge of our times in her 1989 book Composing a Life. In it she writes, “It is time now to explore the creative potential of interrupted and conflicted lives, where energies are not narrowly focused or permanently pointed toward a single ambition. These are not lives without commitment, but lives in which commitments are continually refocused and redefined.”

Learn to Navigate Change in Times of Uncertainty – Joan P. Ball

The need to refocus and redefine what it means to live a good life has only become more intense as 24/7 technology blurs the boundaries between work, home and the pursuit of wellbeing (however we choose to define it). This new environment requires individuals, families (and the organizations that serve them) to navigate a dynamic and perpetually changing terrain—and that can be unsettling. What does it take to navigate this sort of uncertainty? How do we temper our emotions as we try to make sense of this uncharted territory? Opening up space to consider these questions can be a helpful start. That’s why I advocate learning to Stop, Ask and Explore

Stop

For a variety of conscious and unconscious reasons, stopping in the face of uncertainty can feel counterintuitive. Yet, pausing to understand how we feel about a complex challenge and tempering any incendiary or negative emotions can help us to settle our knee-jerk reactions and open up space for curiosity and inquiry.

Ask

Rather than juggling personal and professional commitments or looking to the experiences of others to determine how best to live our lives, opening an intentional and active inquiry allows us to identify various possible approaches to designing a personal and professional lifestyle that works for our unique context. Purposefully creating space for learning when we are unsure how best to organize our lives can help us to shift from a problem-solving mindset to a discovery mindset. In doing so, we can gain a deeper understanding of how we want to live and how we might navigate getting there.

Explore

Casting a vision for the lifestyle we hope to create is only half the battle. Making changes at home and at work that move us in the direction of a successful and meaningful life can be easier said than done. Rather than rushing to pivot or making firm choices, it can be useful to develop an intentional practice of exploration. Experimentation is a very helpful method for exploring new possibilities when we’re not sure of how best to proceed or are not yet ready to make big, permanent changes in our personal or professional lives. This can help to spark new perspectives and provide a roadmap for navigating lives where our commitments are continually refocused and redefined.

Joan P Ball is an educator, transition expert and author of Stop, Ask, Explore. Learn to Navigate Change in Times of Uncertainty (Kogan Page)