Getting comfortable with the uncomfortable

Most people never pick up the phone. Most people never call and ask. And that's what separates sometimes the people who do things from those who just dream about them. You gotta act. You gotta be willing to fail. You gotta be willing to crash and burn. With people on the phone or starting a company, if you're afraid you'll fail, you won't get very far. — Steve Jobs

The question that comes up most often when I’m working with people in the climate space is: How do I know who or what the game-changers will be?

Here’s the thing: For most climate solutions, we don’t know yet.

What we do know is that we need 10,000 shots on goal.

To work on climate solutions and stay focused, you have to get comfortable with uncertainty and risk. 

Let me tell you a story. My first job out of school was management consulting. One of the perks of the job is that you get to work for many different companies and industries on a project basis. The downside is that I had no idea what I was doing while I learned what I needed to know for the first few weeks of a new engagement.

A week or two into my first project, I had a conversation with a senior manager that went like this:

Senior Manager: “So how are you doing?”

Me: “Um...I’m doing...ok.”

Senior Manager: “Ah, you’ve got that new case feeling of overwhelm.”

Me: “Yeah, I guess there is a lot to learn.”

Senior Manager: ***chuckles*** 

Senior Manager: “You know that feeling on a new project never really goes away...but you do get used to it.”

He was right. Every new project, every new job, every new hard thing that I worked on felt uncertain and a bit scary. That never goes away. But I know that feeling now, and I know that it means I’m near my growth edge. Which is a good thing.

It’s the same with uncertainty in the climate space. You are never going to know if you’re working on THE most game-changing thing because the future will roll out in the most unexpected ways (oh hi pandemic that I didn’t plan for), and we’ll have technology breakthroughs that no one has thought of yet.

The best you can do is:

• Get clear on your strategy to drive change

• Get comfortable with the uncertainty and risk that comes with taking a shot on goal

The discomfort of taking a risk and not knowing for sure if you’ll be successful is a good sign. No one makes a big impact by playing it safe.