How Would You Act if You Optimized for Uncertainty to Gain More Resilience?

This is Johanna Rothman’s September 2025 Create an Adaptable Life Newsletter. The unsubscribe link is at the bottom of this email.

Do you like uncertainty? I don’t, and I’m not alone. That’s because uncertainty feels as if it’s an unmanageable risk. We even have sayings such as, “Don’t rock the boat,” to explain why we should seek stability to help us increase our resilience.

But what if optimizing for stability is the wrong idea in these chaotic times? Instead, what if we optimized for living with uncertainty? And that by doing so, we could increase our resilience?

That would be a different approach to life and work. You are not surprised—I’ve been practicing this and have learned a few things.

I realize this sounds contrarian. But hey, I often am! I’ve realized over the past few months that no one has any insight into the future right now. Instead of trying to discern that insight, let’s consider the opposite—to optimize uncertainty. Not to make yourself nutso, but to gain more resilience.

Let me first start with why I’m working to optimize my uncertainty and focus on more resilience.

Tip 1: Start With Why

I don’t prefer to be contrarian all the time. But I see the confluence of several big potential problems:

In the US, our civil discourse is no longer “polite” or “civil.” I admit, I swear a lot in private. But never with a microphone. The real issue here is that we are becoming an impolite society. Impolite societies are often unkind to anyone outside the mainstream. Worse, over time, that mainstream becomes narrower and narrower, excluding more people. I do not want to live that way.
The stock market is overvalued and depends too much on tech companies. Those tech companies think they can replace people with AI. (Excuse me while I snort.) These managers are in for a very big surprise when they lay off even more people and stop being able to produce great products.
All media has splintered—traditional and social. It’s entirely possible for people to enter an echo chamber that reinforces what they want to see and hear—regardless of reality. I much prefer to see reality.

While I hope I’m wrong, I think we are in for a rocky ride for the foreseeable future. That means we will experience more and more uncertainty. We all need to build our resilience.

Tip 2: Recognize How You Feel

As a Spock-like person, I do not always recognize how I feel. Sometimes, it’s all mixed up together in something I can’t easily name: significant rage, deep sadness, and very small optimism. Rage against what I cannot change alone. Sadness over seeing the Overton Window regress. And small optimism over the possibility of building something new from the rubble we’re creating.

But I need to be aware when I feel the rage and sadness overtake my normal optimism. That’s when I can narrow what I choose to address

Tip 3: Narrow Your Field of View

Too often, we think we need to see and plan “everything” for the next month, quarter, or year. The more uncertainty we have, the less future we can predict. So instead of trying to see out for the next month, I do three things:

Decide on an overarching goal for my work. Since I am, ahem, older, I choose a book to write. (I have more books to write than I have a lifetime remaining.) When I finish that one, I can choose the next.
Make a list of the smallest possible things I can do this week—sometimes, even just today—to achieve that goal. Often, that’s writing or speaking in some way.
Choose one thing to finish today.

Notice that I do not try to plan every week, month, quarter, or year, moving up from the day. Instead, I start with the year and move down to the day without cascading goals. I don’t need cascading goals—all I need is that one overarching goal.

Most planning is useless in a period of great uncertainty. Planning does not build resilience. Instead, actions build resilience—because we prove to ourselves what we can do. We adapt in the moment, generate more options, and continue.

Tip 4: Persevere

Not all of my actions “succeed” right away. Instead, because I focus on small pieces of work, I create short feedback loops to learn from my actions. Learning allows me to persevere. In turn, that perseverance builds my resilience because I can practice both my adaptability and how to bounce forward.

Uncertainty abounds. It’s possible that this is the end of an illusion about certainty. But whatever is going on, it feels different to me. And the only way to deal with the risks of uncertainty is to somehow go through to the other side.

We can optimize for uncertainty instead of wishing for stability. Resilience enables us to experiment and succeed.

Announcements…

My cover people are starting the back cover for Effective Public Speaking: How to Use Content Marketing With Stories to Show Your Value. I’m planning a Kickstarter to publish the paper books. When I have the link for that Kickstarter, I’ll let you know. (I might send you a quick email between these monthly emails.)

If you are part of the agile community, consider checking out The Agile Network. Also, don’t miss out on discounted membership options. Use Discount Code: ROTHMANPMC33 to get 33% OFF all memberships.

Tip 1: Start With Why

Tip 2: Recognize How You Feel

Tip 3: Narrow Your Field of View

Tip 4: Persevere

Announcements…

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