How to make decisions when you don’t know what the future holds

Making decisions in a time of chaos and uncertainty can be the most stressful thing of all. Like during the COVID pandemic, when we had no idea what was going to happen. Or when we think about climate change over the next couple of decades. Or right now, when the Trump government is making choices that are wreaking havoc globally.

From reductress.com

There are other, more personal, occasions when you’ll be unmoored, too. There are going to be times in your life when you’re in a place where you’re not at all sure what your future is going to look like. Like after a big break-up. Or if you’ve lost your job. Or a million other things that suddenly shake up your world like a snowglobe, and you have no idea what it’s going to look like when everything settles down.

But, decisions still have to be made! Some choices —

• Should I move to a new city?

• Should I take this job offer?

• Should I have a child?

• I got into grad school—should I go?

— won’t wait for the world to settle down.

So, how do you make good choices when you don’t know what the future holds?

(Of course, there’s a good argument to be made that we never know what the future holds! But if we let that take over our brains, we’d never get anything done 🫠.)

When we have to make decisions in uncertain times, we can rely on one excellent strategy to make good decisions regardless of what will happen.

This is an exercise I ask all my clients to do before our coaching session. It’s to write out what they want their lives to look like in 1, 5, and 10 years.

Now, the truth is that everyone struggles with this exercise!! I also struggle with it!! It’s very hard, actually, to imagine what we want our lives to look like in the future. But I’ve found it to be extremely helpful, when it comes to making decisions, to sweat through the process of visualizing our lives a few years down the line.

OK, maybe you can’t know exactly what job you’ll want when you’re ten years older. Or where you’ll be living. But the point is to think about other things you do know that you’ll want. Some examples:

• Financial security

• Financial independence

• Good health

• The freedom to choose your work

• The ability to retire if you want to

• Children

• Living in a warm climate

• Good relationships with family and friends

• Time for hobbies

• Owning a dog

These are the kinds of things you can KNOW that you’ll want, no matter what else changes in your life or in the world.

So, even at the times of the biggest transitions, when you need to make a decision and you feel completely at sea, let this exercise guide you. Envision your future, and then….

Make the decision that gets you closer to the things on the list.

Even when the ground seems to shift on a daily basis, norms disappear, things you thought were established turn out to be illusions….you will still want to be in good health in a decade. You’ll want your Future Self to have saved enough money to quit a job she hates, if she has to. You’ll want to have a good relationship with the people you love. You KNOW these things, so choose the options that are more likely to get you to them.

We can’t predict the future….

…but if we make the choice that helps get us to the things we KNOW we want, we won’t regret it.