Last week was the end of a call for a two-week stretch of jury duty, which sounds civic and noble until you realize what it does to your calendar: you can’t schedule anything important, because you have to be “available”… just in case. And you only find out whether you’re needed the night before.

For the first few days, I was a walking contingency plan. My mind kept leaping ahead: What if I get put on a trial that runs all week? What if I’m back to squeezing in work at night and on weekends? (These days, if I work nights or weekends, it’s because I choose to, not because I have to.)

What was happening wasn’t productivity. It was my brain trying to buy certainty. Running scenarios. Building backup plans for backup plans. The “I-don’t-know” of it sent me into an anxiety tizzy. Then, after a few rounds of hearing, “Your services won’t be required tomorrow,” I started to relax. Not because the uncertainty went away (because it didn’t), but because I stopped trying to outthink it.

And that’s when the upside showed up: A completely clear schedule. No colored blocks on my calendar, just space. I went from bracing for impact to thinking, “Wait… what could I do with this kind of open runway?” Same situation. Totally different perspective.

This is one of those quiet ways we get stuck. Not from inaction. From low tolerance for the unknown. When the timeline is fuzzy, your brain reaches for certainty, and suddenly you’re spending real energy on imaginary days.

The shift, for me, wasn’t “be patient.” It was: stop trying to force certainty, and work with what’s actually true.➡️ When you can’t know the outcome, the only way forward is a small action that changes what you know.

It’s the same dynamic in a career shift, when the timing is out of your hands, but you still catch yourself planning like you can control it. And similarly, in a leadership challenge, the situation is real, but the information is incomplete, and your brain wants a verdict now.

‍Instead of demanding an answer, take the smallest step that makes the situation a little more true—and let that be what guides the next one.