Notes from a studio — dealing with uncertainty
I hear myself discussing one of the following statements in almost every single new conversation;
- Who knows what’s going to happen!?
- I can’t remember if it was last week or last year!
- People are worried / unsure / uncertain / confused (delete as appropriate)
Within the space of three weeks I have heard some people talk about this being the best time for certain industries; a time to flourish, lots of opportunities, whilst others are convinced that we are at the brink of a very difficult period, emotionally and economically.
The truth is, I don’t think anyone really knows (see point 1 above). Whilst we can all make some assumptions, I think the one thing that the past two years has taught me is that certainty is scarce. In the past we (Thursday)felt that we had a pretty accurate picture of the market and could therefore make some fairly well informed decisions. August was generally quiet as everyone went off on holiday, December was (at best) a three week month, clients wanted to spend budgets before the end of fiscal year, etc. etc.
Now whilst much of that could still be seen to be true, it feels like there is so much uncertainty around everything else, that making long term decisions, strategies or plans is (again at best) difficult. To me it feels like the landscape (political, economic, personal) is shifting from day to day. I am struggling to think beyond the next two months right now, but maybe that’s OK. Maybe now is the time to think about today, and the next day and the next, but not to worry too much about next year.
We will still make our plans, set our budgets and predict our growth but I suspect we all need to be a little more flexible, and a little kinder to ourselves. I have a tendency to beat myself up about failures, to over-analyse what has gone wrong, when there is so much good going on; great work being done, amazing connections with new people, helping others who really need support right now.
If this period of time has taught my anything, it’s that we’re not saving lives here. Yes, the work we do has a profound impact on our clients, in many cases building their brands into hugely successful organisations, or recreating their digital platforms to smash revenue targets. But we need to put everything into context, not beat ourselves up about missing a deadline, or losing a pitch.
So, how to deal with this uncertain period? Keep going. As my good friend Matt Briggs told me recently; “just keep putting one foot in front of the other”. Have faith in what you have done to bring you this far, surround yourself with the best people you know, be kind, give more than you take and take time to relax.
This will pass, eventually, and we will look back at this period of history with a mixture of disbelief and thankfulness, I suspect. Thankful it did pass and thankful that we made it through, one step at a time.
