Well, following the logic we grew up with, you would work out a plan. How many times do I hear people asking a question like that? 30 Fun Things To Do With Your Friends Without Spending Much. The level of commitment required (high) and time frame (long) are just too much for most of us. and so on. You’d keep your eye on the prize—losing those thirty pounds. Wish I did. © 2020 Forbes Media LLC. (Months, maybe years, pass while he does research and prepares the document.) If I keep exercising and eating less and have just one glass of wine with dinner instead of two, maybe that will work.”). Here are a few suggestions when you don’t know what to do: Phone a friend. If at the end of the week, you have found that you have indeed lost a pound (or perhaps more), you will say to yourself, “That wasn’t so bad. You know the logic we were told always to follow: While it makes enormous sense in a predictable setting—say a booming economy—it doesn't in the face of the unknown because you simply don’t know what could happen. Wish I did. It won’t solve the problem. And history shows that you would probably fail. All Rights Reserved. In fact, sometimes that’s the best decision. Here are a few suggestions when you don’t know what to do: Phone a friend. Hopefully you have a faith in God. I am a best-selling author, and an extremely proud Forbes alum. And I don’t need to know how to do that; I just need to do it. You know where you want to go, but the incomprehensible road signs, congestion, construction delays and the like make it extremely difficult to get from here to there. Let us explain how it came about so you can see: It started with us trying to answer a fundamental question: What do you do when you don’t know what to do? Understand It to Control It 100%, I Don’t Know What to Do With My Life! In contrast, for someone using affordable loss reasoning, the idea of getting underway is far more important than having a fixed goal, because they understand they have no idea of knowing ahead of time whether their idea will truly work as imagined. I’ve always wanted to be my own boss. Ask how they got through it, the steps they took, and how they shifted their attitude. Well, I still don’t know what to do. Because I do know what the wrong thing is. I don’t know about you, but many times when I hear the word negotiate I think of lawyers working out a business deal or having to do battle with a car salesman to try to get a lower price. What would daddy or mama do? They’d begin by taking a small step and say something like “I want to lose one pound this week.”  With that modest initial goal in mind, you are far more likely to eat a little bit less over the next seven days and exercise a touch more. You will often have to pull the trigger on moving forward without all the answers to your questions. Now may be the time to put all safety concerns aside and go for it. And when it came to moving into the unknown, they used a different logic. We have created one. Let me start raising money.”. It may not be a morning run, but finding a way to get moving can help you clear your thoughts and improve your overall attitude, Research has shown that there is a sweet spot when it comes to choices. Or afraid to do it. A former writer and editor at Business Week, Inc. and Financial World, in addition to my six years at Forbes, I've written, co-written and “ghosted” numerous best-sellers including Customers for Life (with Carl Sewell.) EY & Citi On The Importance Of Resilience And Innovation, Impact 50: Investors Seeking Profit — And Pushing For Change. Have you been listening to people God has been sending your way? So, their interior monologue sounds like this: “I am 46 and I just don’t know how long I am going to have a job. I write on the best way to prepare for the future -- by creating it. But if you are in a good place in life, and you know you are making wise decisions in other situations, then you can often trust the voice within you. Follow your gut. can inspire and motivate you, especially when you’re not sure of your next steps. I think the job matching idea has a lot of promise, but if it turns out a website is better, or a newsletter or whatever, that’s what I’ll do, once I am underway.”. You may opt-out by. How would you do it? Sometimes I do, but sometimes I simply have some principles I can share. If not, we need to talk. In fact, if it were, many of us in my profession would either be out of a job—or making a lot of money. Again, I don’t always know. A quick example will prove the point. If the client may be an immediate danger to himself or others. I need $50,000 for expenses and $50,000 to live on for the next 6 months until I get some revenue. So we looked at how they handle things. Of course, the first answer is to talk to God, but how many times have you done that and still cannot discern what He is saying. It’s a model that we call: Act. That’s assuming I can live without a salary for two years. As we try to move from where we are to where we would like to be in our lives, it sure would be nice to have a reliable GPS. But if you are a believer, then you have access to a power greater than your ability to make a good decision. Deutsch English Español Français Hungarian Italiano Nederlands Polski Português (Brasil) Română Svenska Türkçe Ελληνικά Български Русский Српски العربية فارسی 日本語 한국어 I am a best-selling author, and an extremely proud Forbes alum. If you’re not sure where to start, make a list of your priorities. The challenge is often having the courage to ask and then yielding to those voices. Again, I don’t always know. We checked with countless serial entrepreneurs and found that while each was unique, they all followed the same approach to venturing into the unknown. That was the question we began wrestling with and almost immediately we asked who are the best people at dealing with uncertainty? Learn. It wouldn’t be the end of the world. Let’s see if I can do it again next week.” And if you fail, you’d try adding something else. The more potential risks/challenges he believed he was up against, the more money he would raise, to help offset the uncertainty. The uncertainty we all face every day—everything from wondering if we will we have a job tomorrow to whether the weather (hurricanes; massive storms) will up-end our lives—is like being on a confusing road trip. (“Hmmm. You don’t only have to learn from experience; you can also learn from others’ experiences. What do you do when you don’t know what to do? My latest book, which I co-authored with Leonard A. Schlesinger and Charles F. Kiefer is Just Start: Take Action; Embrace Uncertainity; Create the Future published by Harvard Business Review Press. How to Be a Successful And Happy Stay at Home Mom, 8 Things to Remember When You’re Saying “I Can’t Do It”, 10 Principles for Success to Start Living Your Dream Life, 10 Ways to Keep Going When the Going Gets Tough, How to Practice Active Listening (A Step-By-Step Guide), The Purpose of Listening: To Understand, Not Reply, People Will Like You More If You Start Asking Follow-up Questions, 10 Strategies to Keep Moving Forward When Feeling Stuck. So, I need to raise another $900,000 before I can start. Someone who knows you well. There is nothing more uncertain than starting a company, and these people have mastered it more than once. If our potential entrepreneur were to follow the typical reasoning governing risk, he would do in-depth research to estimate not only the size of the market, but also all the risks he might face (competitors, changing market conditions, etc.). (“Let me start with the job matching idea.”), * Learn from taking that small step. To get started, you can check out, How To Be True To You When Life Pulls You Off Track, 12 Things You Should Remember When Feeling Lost in Life, How to Find Yourself When You’re Lost in Life, Mental Health Week: 4 Mental Health Benefits Of Exercise, Exercise as a treatment modality for depression: A narrative review, Choice overload reduces neural signatures of choice set value in dorsal striatum and anterior cingulate cortex, Feeling off Track in Life? How to Practice Active Listening (A Step-By-Step Guide), Why Listen to Reply Instead of Understand Is the Key to Failure, How to Be a Better Parent: 11 Things to Remember. Don’t be afraid to not make a decision if you don’t have to. Here’s How to Stay True to Yourself, What Is a Habit? I don't know how to live without you (Idiom, English) — 1 translation (Portuguese.) What do you do then—when you don’t know what to do? Stop worrying. Analyze the prospective market and choose segments with the highest potential return. Although it sounds vaguely mystical, the question deals with an extremely concrete problem. Ron Edmondson pastors Immanuel Baptist Church. Those are just a few suggestions when you don’t know what to do. Take a risk. What Is Attachment Parenting and Does It Work? (Are you following?). 5 Steps to Get Unstuck, 10 Things You Can Do Now to Change Your Life Forever, 30 Powerful Success and Failure Quotes That Will Lead You to Success, 8 Powerful Mood Boosters to Lift Your Mood And Energy, 7 Hardest Languages to Learn For English Speakers, 11 Tips for Maintaining a Positive Attitude Every Day, What Is the Meaning of Life? Take full advantage of that privilege. Consider the case of a man in his mid-40s who is thinking about quitting his high-paying job to start his own company. 10 Benefits of Deadlifts You Probably Never Knew. If the client is endangering a population that cannot protect itself, such as in the case of a child or elder abuse. If you use this logic there all you end up doing is making projections…on assumptions… that are contingent on guesses. Thoughts on Leadership, Church, and Culture. Say you want to lose thirty pounds. Isn’t it wonderful how God puts people in our life who can speak into our life?