The feeling of being uncertain is something people usually don’t want to experience. What do you worry about? How do you deal with anxiety? Is it possible to get something positive out of welcoming this feeling? In this episode, April Shprintz talks about a time when everything spun out of control and how she got back on track.
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Dealing With Uncertainty? It Will Uncover Your Hidden Genius!
Have you ever thought about how you deal with uncertainty and what that tells you about yourself? I was on a leadership panel and one of the questions was, “Could you tell us about a time that you dealt with uncertainty?” It was super interesting because not only could we help the folks that we were talking with, but it gave me some insight that I want to share with you. If you think back to a time in your life when you had to deal with uncertainty and the way that you dealt with it worked out successfully for you, it likely points to a special skill that you have or an area of your hidden genius or just uncovering your genius.
Not that it’s hidden from the rest of the world, but it’s probably hidden from you. The reason that happens is that whatever is special about us is also normal for us, and we do it all the time. We do it easily so we can take for granted how big of a deal that is to other people, and how much of an advantage that is for us. A lot of times, it’s someone else that points it out to us. In this particular situation, I went back to the most uncertain time in my entire life, and that was when I had graduated from high school and didn’t know what I was going to do about education and my career.
I was about 18 years old, almost 19, and through a bunch of different choices that I made, I had not gone to college in the way that I had planned. I was going at night while working full-time and found out about the military and that I could pursue my dream of broadcasting by going into the service and thought that was the answer to everything I’d been working on and hoping for. I excitedly did my audition and sent it off because you had to have your voice and ability to speak evaluated.
That audition came back and I failed. It was an Earth-shattering thing for me at that time because of my age and that was my dream. I had never had a big failure at that point in my life. The uncertainty came from not knowing how I would move forward. I was in a little bit of a tailspin for months. When I say tailspin, I had always been someone who was super motivated, had lots of direction, had an idea about who I wanted to be and what I wanted to do, and I felt totally adrift.
During that time, the recruiter who had helped me with my audition called me and said, “This is crazy. We had never had anyone audition for broadcasting before you. Now we have a second person who’d like to do it.” He’s nervous about the process because they had a lot of requirements. It was the military and you needed to get those right, or they would probably just throw your audition out altogether. It was interesting because a lot of people would’ve said, “How in the world would you be able to help someone else if you couldn’t do something you wanted to do?”
For me, that was a gift because it took the focus off of me. It let me look outside of myself to help someone else. It was super helpful from a mindset perspective. Remember sometimes when we talk about reframing things and seeing how it’s happening for you not to you, and it’s just too far, you can’t get there. I didn’t even know how to reframe then, but there was nothing I could focus on other than the fact that I was a failure until I had this other person to help.
Uncertainty: When we talk about reframing things, it’s about seeing how things are happening for you, not to you.
It was such a gift because it changed my mind and got me focusing on something that I’m good at and it matters to me. Without me even knowing it at the time, it pointed to what my life’s work was going to end up being, which was helping others accomplish the things that are most important to them. The other part of it, which was just an added bonus, was that he had broadcast experience and pointed out to me a couple of times that my voice didn’t have those characteristics that they were saying it had that caused me to fail.
Focus on things that you’re good at and that matter to you. Share on XI’ll make the longer story short and tell you that not understanding broadcasting and my recruiter not understanding it either, we recorded it on the wrong equipment, which made me sound like I didn’t have the voice that was necessary. I was able to then audition, make it, and go into the service. What was so remarkable is that demonstrated for me, not only what a big benefit it is to help others and take that focus onto something else when you’re in a place that you can’t seem to drag yourself out of. It also showed me the flip side benefits that many of us don’t understand.
It’s that great Zig Ziglar quote, which is, “You can have everything you ever wanted if you help enough other people get what they want.” I want you to think about a time when you have handled uncertainty well. What did that point out to you about yourself? It’s going to tell you something about one of your unique skills and areas of genius. It’s also great to know what those are so that the next time something strikes you that way, you know exactly how to react.
Uncertainty: Going through uncertainties points you to yourself and tells you something about one of your unique skills and areas of genius.
A few years ago in the very first week of COVID, when everyone was having that reaction of uncertainty, I had that one with everyone else. As soon as I recognized what I was finding so challenging about it, I immediately thought, “How and who can I help?” I believe I had a completely different experience of COVID than most other people because I knew that thing that I could focus on that could take me outside of what was happening to me and what I’m worried about and make everything easier for me to deal with.
Uncertainty: There will always be times of uncertainty. Feeling good about how you deal with them will have a tremendous impact on your life.
Try this out. Let me know how it works for you. I can’t wait to hear about it. This will make a tremendous difference. If there’s one thing that I’ve realized over the years, it’s that times of uncertainty will come back again. Feeling good about how you deal with them will make a tremendous impact on your life. Here’s to your success.