When the potential consequences of choices are unclear despite a need to move forward, that’s ambiguity.

The famous Yogi Berra quote still holds true: “When you come to a fork in the road, take it.” It’s essential to keep moving because mobility keeps discoveries vibrant, opens new options and offers reprieve from the consequences of inaction. The feelings of tactical confusion amidst times of ambiguity necessitate strategic focus.

The prevalence of speed and environmental pressure instills a feeling that everything requires immediate action. However, in the fog of ambiguity and the bright lights of others’ expectations, it seems as though the road narrows and the blind spots multiply.

Musician Ronnie Milsap said that “the future is not what it used to be.”  I say it used to take longer.  The rapid whiplash of these times has altered the concept of stability, creating heightened ambiguity and uncertainty about the future and the choices that shape it.

An example of the torrid flow of information and its impact exists through the 24-hour news cycle. Before, a major story would break, remain dominant for weeks and have a tail of analysis and reactions. Now, news goes viral even before sources are verified or the facts are confirmed, and within 24 hours or less, a new story emerges, evoking emotions that oscillate between outrage and amusement.

This contextual velocity fundamentally alters our concept of the future and erodes the capacity to see beyond the immediate.  Tasks and decisions pile up, and we feel stuck and drained by indecision.  It is like having too many tabs open on a screen, which captures sporadic attention and depletes the battery, yet does not necessarily equate to productivity. The volume diminishes the capacity to discern between noise and signal, while blurring any discernment between actions and reactions.

There are times when collecting more data or information does not increase understanding or resolve the tension between options. Those moments require discernment, the art of wise judgment based on what we currently possess.

Looking for predictability, certainty, control and agency becomes elusive. The future doesn’t rest and is certainly not waiting for us.  The environment is volatile, dynamic and even brittle. Norms and protocols that gave us stability are now routinely shattered.

People instinctively try to be strong, stiff and steady in order to cope. I believe the opposite should be true: the greater the force felt from the environment, the greater the need for malleability and flexibility.

Consider how buildings designed to withstand earthquakes are constructed with buffers; they sway and shake, and once the quake’s strength passes, the building returns to its original stability. Identify the equivalent of those seismic buffers and the actions and behaviors that will help stabilize, shift and maintain a sense of stability and direction.

We cannot pressure ourselves to seek a precise destination as we navigate ambiguity.  Committing to a general sense of direction will become more important than finding a precise endpoint.

Here are five suggestions for navigating ambiguous or uncertain times:

Embrace the mindset of a pioneer, not a settler. Ambiguity presents opportunities for discovery and innovation. Embracing the incomplete or unknown provides room to reimagine it. While pioneers move boldly into uncertainty, settlers seek stability, practicality and long-term security. We must dare to explore the unclear, rather than reinforce the known.

Shift your relationship with the vulnerability of not knowing. Instead of viewing ambiguity as a threat, see it as an opening—a gateway to growth and discovery. Only when we admit we don’t have the answer can we create space to learn something new and create a unique or innovative answer.

Take care of your future—before you have to. A crisis is the worst time to start planning. Fear and anxiety trigger our fight-or-flight instincts, narrowing our vision and making it harder to think beyond the present danger. Develop the skill of anticipation and contextualizing scenarios. Imagining plausible scenarios before they unfold will cultivate your interaction with the future.

Just like pilots train with simulations, practice running scenario-based drills. That way, when the unexpected happens, you’ll see it not as a crisis, but as a moment of choice.  If you imagine the future, you won’t be surprised by it.

Reframe your perspective. Job insecurity, economic, or geopolitical concerns require a reevaluation of available options. Doing so will redirect your attention away from the insidious forces of unproductive worry and shift your thinking toward potential benefits. Reframing forces reflection and can spark a reassessment of your future.

Indecision impedes progress. A friend once shared a story about driving with their father down a country road when a rabbit suddenly darted into the car’s path, stopped in its tracks, and was struck. Afterward, the father said, “If the rabbit had continued across the road the first time, it would have made it and been fine. If it had stopped and gone back to where it started, it would have been ok. But the rabbit’s failure to make a decision caused its own death.”

Sometimes, the greatest risk is not making a choice at all. So dare to choose and boldly knock on the door of progress and new possibilities.

A version of this blog originally appeared in Smith Brain Trust, Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland.

It is not uncommon for people to get caught up in daily demands and become oblivious to all else.

We may get so caught up in the pace that we lose sight of the purpose of our original direction. Many people are riding fast on the wrong train. They are making good time in terms of accomplishments, but they are no longer thinking about the fundamental questions that would reassure them of the rightness of their direction. Much like the train’s speed, their lives gain momentum, but they surrender to the flow and forfeit their joy with it.

Seeing our lives holistically, including the physical, logical and emotional domains, is essential if we seek work-life harmony. These dimensions are not mutually exclusive. Gandhi noted, “One man cannot do right in one department of life whilst he is occupied in doing wrong in any other department. Life is one indivisible whole.” 

Therefore, if you find yourself working on weekends and late at night to catch up with work; if you are postponing physical and social activities because you are too busy; or if work is becoming a source of chronic stress or if you cannot afford to take time off, then it’s a sign that you are on an unsustainable life path.

We must heighten awareness that speed and progress are conceptually distinct and experientially intertwined. We easily confuse means with ends when absorbed by contemporary life’s rapid pace and expectations. Finding work-life balance is an elusive proposition, but it is not a good reason to surrender.

It is essential to slow down and mindfully iterate our definition of success, reaffirm our life purpose, reconnect with our values and recognize that rediscovering our sense of direction will give us the ultimate foundation to move in the direction of the life we want to live.

Modern work’s evolution and amplified pace have only necessitated the need for work-life balance among today’s professionals.

The interactions of external expectations, economic necessity and personal aspirations of success have paved the way for people to juggle the tensions of succeeding in all departments of life.

We’ve become prisoners of doing more of everything well, fueling our fire and, along the way, burning out. As a result, we experience disharmony, disengagement, exhaustion, inefficacy, frustration and disappointment, all warning signs of an imbalanced life.

Technology has enabled us to multitask, expand our sphere of influence and absorb a greater volume of things to do, like a sponge, but are we really accomplishing more? We find ourselves reaching a saturation point. This dripping manifests in missed deadlines, inability to attend family events, increased stress and much more.

Research suggests busyness hinders our capacity to discern and ignore irrelevant information. The thrill for heavy multitaskers is getting more and more of it, and the high volume of work becomes a badge of honor. Yet, slowly and gradually, this tendency becomes a silent killer, leading to physical and mental exhaustion and the feeling of being excessively burdened.

It is important to step back, zoom out of our daily routines, and ask ourselves if our engagement is sustainable over time. We often think we are in an extraordinary situation and only need to push harder to find a better flow. But in reality, the pace just keeps accelerating around us.

*This post originally appeared in StreetCar Suburbs Publishing on 9/12/24.

“Quiet Cutting”

It can include pay reductions, downgrades in employee titles or trimming and shifting employee roles and responsibilities in the workplace.

It’s a slow-motion attrition, giving employers a dexterous alternative to outright layoffs or termination while avoiding the visibility and legal blowbacks associated with the process. Should an employee instead decide to leave on their own, the company is absolved from severance pay and gains a buffer of strategic flexibility in keeping experienced employees around at an affordable cost.

But there are dangers.  If it becomes serial, the organization may experience a culture of self-protective behaviors and unhealthy internal competition for tasks, recognition and even remaining in the boss’s good graces. In the long-term, absenteeism, lack of accountability, increased customer complaints, accidents and eventual loss of competitiveness are notable.

The detrimental consequences of this downward occupational mobility are devastating to the morale and self-esteem of the employees.  It fractures the bond of loyalty and trust, and fuels a generalized disillusionment that accelerates the corrosion of joy in work.

Here are ways you can navigate Quiet Cutting in your career:

Identify the “Why”. It’s critical to understand the reasons behind a reassignment or downgrade decision. Bear in mind that not all quiet cutting is created equal. There are many systemic reasons that go beyond the control or performance of an individual employee. Budget constraints or changes in strategic direction are just two examples. Appreciating the context eases the pressure and the sentiment of “Why me?” and “What did I do wrong?”

Read the tea leaves. Determine whether this is happening to others in the workplace or if it is a singular experience. Lack of feedback or recognition, frequent postponing of one-on-one meetings and constant shifting of tasks and priorities are some potential symptoms of which to be mindful. Employers furthering quiet cutting create a climate of uncertainty and ambiguity for the employee.  Identifying the cues early on allows you to be proactive in your choices.

Find the off-ramp. Quiet Cutting always trumps a loud firing. Take advantage of the security and stability of employment to buy time toward planning the next career move. Be patient, as reacting emotionally or abruptly to immediate workplace shifting and reassignment may result in rushed decisions or settling for the wrong job. Invest your focus in identifying and approximating your ideal or desired job and not merely on leaving the current situation precipitously.

Start a new chapter. Quiet Cutting shouldn’t be perceived as a career ender, but rather as an opportunity to reexamine the meaning of work in your life. Leveraging the moment is empowering and critical to identify what types of jobs will bring fulfillment and a sense of purpose.

Perhaps your job had become habitual, and complacency had set in.  The current circumstances can serve as a catalyst for a true sense of urgency that could lead to career reorientation, a better job, and a better life.

The pursuit of work-life balance feels like a race without a finish line – people are trying to win the battle of doing more of everything while doing it well. The fruits of those labors create sentiments of disharmony, exhaustion, inefficacy, frustration and disappointment – also known as the warning signs of an imbalanced life.

A better approach is to think of balance as the integration of the elements of your life in ways that contribute to your stability and steadiness.

It’s in the process of mindful reflection and discovery that we find inspiration to execute our decisions and bring our priorities to life.

Much like a tightrope aerialist, successful work-life balance isn’t about going up rapidly, it’s about moving forward steadily. Aerialists set the goal of making it to the other end and recognize that there are no shortcuts. They focus on their next step and compartmentalize all other potential distractions.

In work and personal life, you must pursue your constancy of purpose and identify the small and achievable steps that will bring consistency of action each day, week and month. Unexpected events, conflicts, crises, requests and scheduling shifts, however, will challenge that consistency and require mindful choices to maintain the course.

Is it possible to balance a conflict between an important work presentation that can contribute to a promotion or attending the first recital of our kids? By the time we find ourselves in this predicament, we can only justify our decision. But no matter the choice we make, there will be a residual emotional effect and an impact on ourselves and others.

Discerning what is the right choice must be informed by our values – the balancing pole to a person’s character, attitude and general behavior. It also requires a reconceptualization of a person’s definition of success.

Think of success as the coordinates where joy meets purpose, a combination that leads to a holistic sense of fulfillment.

Here are tips to those seeking to enhance your approach to work-life balance:

Be honest with yourself. Be genuine and articulate what truly matters most to you. Share your intent with your loved ones and heighten their awareness regarding your priorities and the context behind them.

Write it in the calendar. Schedule and honor personal activities and time with friends and family much like with important work-related events. It’s easy to embrace the “always-on” attitude at work and neglect the relationships and experiences that bring stability to our lives.

Set the right tone. For supervisors, be an example to others in the workplace by modeling adequate behaviors for work-life balance. Sending emails in the middle of the night or during weekends may signal there are no demarcations or boundaries.

Create safeguards. Empower and develop team members to become an extension of your leadership. If they feel trusted, empowered, and capable they will amplify your presence and create pockets of freedom in your schedule. Developing your team will allow you to mitigate the discomfort of taking time off, booking your next vacation or having a moment to unplug.

If you don’t make time to reflect and articulate these aspects of your life, you will find it remarkably easy to succumb to the busyness of the moment, rely on coping mechanisms, inadvertently drift and face the insidious forces of an unstable life.  I encourage you to choose joy and purpose!

by Gerald Suarez, Ph.D.

They say there is no “neutral” in life. You either go forward or you go back, but you never stay where you are now. I learned this from my former boss at the White House.

Our days were always dynamic, and political pressures continually pushed us outside of our comfort zones. Unpredictable events surfaced everyday and we found ourselves learning, adapting, reframing, and steering the issues to the most favorable outcomes we could imagine. It was a tough environment.

I did not recognize it at the time, but my sense of chronic discomfort was a sign of development and growth, essential elements for helping us thrive in an ever-changing world. The late advertising guru Jay Chiat made the same discovery: “I’m not comfortable unless I’m uncomfortable.”

This experience taught me that the opposite of discomfort is complacency. Complacency is an attitude that we develop when we enjoy prolonged comfort. We become so self-satisfied, so smug about our own well-being, that we remain unconscious of the dangers that may lie ahead.

What does complacency look like in the work world? Over time, our behavior and work patterns become habitual and focused on preserving things the way they are, giving us a false sense of control. This phenomenon afflicts individuals as well as organizations and, in both cases, adverse consequences evolve so gradually that we become numb to what’s happening.

One cannot learn, grow, and develop in a culture of complacency. If we are too cozy with our success, we risk squandering the ability to break away from what we think of as a tried-and-true way of doing things. Complacency leads to risk-aversion, missed opportunities, and even boredom. We limit our chances to experiment, innovate, and to make new connections.

Lessons from Kodak

Since its founding in 1888, Eastman Kodak was known for its dominance in photographic film. The brand became mainstream and having a “Kodak moment” was synonymous with good times.  These moments were worth capturing and preserving for posterity on, of course, Kodak paper. At times Kodak’s market share was hovering around 90%, a total and complete dominance of the market. So, why change?

We now know the answer. Kodak became anchored in its success, complacent about the future, ignoring technological developments, even those developed in-house. It was a young Kodak engineer who invented the digital photographic process back in 1975, but his bosses could not envision a camera that did not use film or paper. Even two weeks before filing for bankruptcy, a Kodak executive said to a colleague, “I think film’s coming back.” But it never did. Regrettably, Kodak’s inability to cope with technical innovation led to its bankruptcy in 2012.

Kodak had invented the future but did not have the appetite to embrace it. It could not imagine the potential of digital photography because it was blinded by its dominance. Moving beyond current successes is never easy, yet it is essential for individuals and organizations seeking long-term competitiveness.

The lessons from Kodak are profound and are reinforced by what evolutionary biologists have taught us about ourselves. The more comfortable we are in our current environment, the less likely that we can adapt to a new one.

Overcoming Complacency

1.  Ask yourself, when was the last time that you did something completely new or different? If the answer takes too long for you to articulate, chances are that you are experiencing complacency.

Think about what made you successful. What could you replace it with? What would you like your ideal future to be? Placing yourself outside of your comfort zone can trigger strong emotions of vulnerability and anxiety, but also exhilaration and hope for the possibilities ahead. American writer and mountaineer Jon Krakauer talks about this in his book Into the Wild: “. . . Nothing is more dangerous to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future.”

2.  Nurture your curiosity and look for new connections by reading material outside your domain and interacting with people outside your field. This will help you to view problems and solutions from other points of view, other disciplines, and bring uniqueness to what you have to offer.

3.  Use the telescope, not the microscope. Don’t let the micro details of today prevent you from seeing the big picture ahead of you. Doing so will help you pull the possibilities of the future into the present and unleash yourself from the trappings of today.

To survive on a personal or organizational level, it is essential to rethink, reimagine and redesign our businesses and ourselves when we are in the midst of success. It is at this very point in time when we can indulge in the luxury of reflection and invite discomfort and unease into our thinking.

Continual development and learning can no longer be just strategic choices, but strategic necessities to help us move forward.

The Joy Of Missing Out is about simplicity and the joy of not being overwhelmed.

Stoked by social media, our all-too-common fear of missing out, or FOMO, is often cited as a reason why we live beyond our means, take on debt and generally feel unsatisfied at home and in our careers. It’s why we put so much pressure on ourselves to have Instagram-worthy lives, 24 hours a day.

JOMO provides the elation of stepping away from our screens.  Take a social media detox and feel the happiness that comes from disconnecting.

Slow down.  Our lives are too cluttered.  We are bombarded with what is often irrelevant information. It becomes harder and harder to discern which things really require our attention and which do not.  Here are some things to think about:

Social media life is not Real Life: You see a Facebook post of someone having a great time and think “What’s wrong with me? Everybody is out having a great time. Why am I not on vacation or visiting friends or going to the newest restaurants?”  What you are seeing are snapshots of a person’s life. Those snapshots don’t tell the whole story of a person’s life. And chances are their life is just like yours.

Busy is not everything: There is an expectation that success means that we are always surrounded by people and always on the go. And that busyness is a badge of honor, so we fear being alone. We fear missing out.  We need to set boundaries, carve out a little time to do nothing. Our time to be quiet and alone increases our cognitive power.

Replying is not a sport: Let go of the pressure to reply to everything right away. Replying quickly is not an Olympic sport. You are not going to get a medal.  Put the phone aside.

Connectivity is not connectedness: Nonstop connectivity makes us feel compelled “to do.” We gotta do. We gotta go. And we are so focused on the doing and the going that we forget to be.

Connectivity is our capacity to link and have access. Connectedness is our ability to have substance.

Missing out is not what’s really scary: It’s the fear, in the fear of missing out, that should scare us the most, because we are missing out on what matters most when we are merely reacting to the events around us.  That is why you can miss out, and feel joy.

An earlier version of this blog appeared in the Robert H. Smith School of Business “Brain Trust” on September 13, 2018.

The great Samuel Johnson, a chronic worrier, labeled worry a “disease of the imagination.” We are capable of imagining the worst, allowing a stream of dark thoughts to crowd our mind. Is it worth it? Is worry its own reward? If we fret about an upcoming presentation in front of a large, forbidding audience and it turns out well, do we attribute it to all that effort we invested in imagining the worst?

Great leaders and strategists use worry to imagine potential implications and consequences of their decisions. By doing so, they are able to anticipate what can go wrong and design better plans. Successful entrepreneurs masterfully use worry to sense, respond, anticipate and effectively deal with uncertainty and risk. Other executives see worry as a catalyst to prevent obsolescence or stagnation.

However, when worry escalates and becomes omnipresent, it can lead to postponement, paralysis, fear, distress, all forms of dysfunction, and even medical problems.

How can we manage our worries? Recoding our apprehensions each day is a good way to start. Keep an inventory of worries and become mindful of the things that we can influence and the ones beyond our control. Revisiting our journal will help us assess the actual danger from the imagined peril. We may find that it was never as bad as we imagined it to be. Get the facts and look for evidence since worry is often rooted in misinformation. Avoid the paralysis of perfectionism and learn from failure. Stay socially engaged and share your worries with your executive coach or a trusted colleague. Doing so, can help us see our worries within a new context and help us calm down.

Can we worry less but worry better? Yes, but first we must acknowledge that worry is a type of thinking that is self-imposed. Since worry results from our own mental creations, we must shift our thinking in a serious way, even turn it upside down, and instead imagine positive outcomes, and believe in them. It is our choice: We can be immobilized by fear of failure or motivated by a vision of success, even if success doesn’t actually pan out as we wished. At least we can sleep at night.