studio non troppo : mindful design : facilitation

It’s not the scarcity of money or time or knowledge. The real barrier to entry is uncertainty. If you knew that what you were trying right now would work eventually, you wouldn’t fret about spending your money or time. But unless you’re very good at practicing non-attachment or are the gambling type, that’s not how it feels.

It’s tough, not knowing if your work will create the outcome you think you want.

Photo: kwerfeldein

There’s a greeting card that asks (paraphrased), “what would you attempt if you knew you could not fail?” There’s a problem with these encouraging words, though (or with this platitude, depending on what mood you’re in):

Without uncertainty, most endeavors would become unbearably boring.

Ellen J. Langer has remarked that golf wouldn’t be much fun for long if you knew every shot would be a hole in one. Now that may sound like one of those annoying comments about lottery winners – “they were much happier before they won.” Yeah, yeah, we think. Just let ME win, and let me find out for myself whether I’ll be less happy.

But we don’t have the choice of eliminating uncertainty. Our perception that we could is illusory.

The only way through the barrier is to act even though we’re uncertain.