The quotient of uncertainty that we live with in our work and daily lives seems to be ratcheting upwards, and it’s no wonder stress is taking a huge health toll in modern lives.
How can event professionals, whose job it it is to eliminate as much meeting or event uncertainty from the outcomes as much as possible, deal with this uncertainty factor?
Travis Bradberry, co-author of Emotional Intelligence 2.0 and president of TalentSmart, offers some practical advice:
- Quite the limbic system: This is the part of the brain that responds to uncertainty with fear, potentially setting off a chain reaction of responses that will actually cut out the part of the brain that analyzes. Chill the limbic response by simply bringing into awareness and labeling it as a knee-jerk reaction.
- Focus on something positive: positive thoughts help quiet irrational ones.
- Acknowledge what you can’t control. “People who excel at managing uncertainty know that the only thing they really control is the process through which they reach their decisions.”
- Zero in on what matters most: Don’t get distracted by “a flurry of small worries.”
Travis offers more practical tips on how to avoid uncertainty in “How Successful People Overcome Uncertainty.”
