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Published 14 August 2020
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Reclaiming certainty in a world of uncertainty
Whenever my father would buy a piece of real estate, he always knew that he would eventually sell it for a considerable sum of money, often insanely more than the purchase price. That is, he fixed in his mind a price for selling a property, even before he had purchased it. Moreover, my father was absolutely certain that he would one day sell the property at a specific price, for a specific amount of profit. Even more, he had a working hypothesis as to how his target price would be realized.
What was uncertain in my father’s equation was the timeframe of the sale. Very often, he didn’t know exactly when the property would sell or who would purchase it. Here again, he had a working hypothesis but ultimately the timing of a sale in real estate is unpredictable. “You can never time the market,” as equity investors so often say about the stock market.
In the above narrative are some important lessons for startups, entrepreneurs, travel agents, hoteliers and freelancers who are experiencing a very tough time right now. In today’s world, it is all too easy to succumb to pessimism, fear, regret and worry, but nonetheless we must resist these deleterious and self-defeating emotions, and look beyond all the uncertainties and doom-and-gloom scenarios.
Simply put: we must reclaim certainty in the face of all uncertainty.
What was uncertain in my father’s equation was the timeframe of the sale. Very often, he didn’t know exactly when the property would sell or who would purchase it. Here again, he had a working hypothesis but ultimately the timing of a sale in real estate is unpredictable. “You can never time the market,” as equity investors so often say about the stock market.
In the above narrative are some important lessons for startups, entrepreneurs, travel agents, hoteliers and freelancers who are experiencing a very tough time right now. In today’s world, it is all too easy to succumb to pessimism, fear, regret and worry, but nonetheless we must resist these deleterious and self-defeating emotions, and look beyond all the uncertainties and doom-and-gloom scenarios.
Simply put: we must reclaim certainty in the face of all uncertainty.
When we start asking why, we can clarify our beliefs and build from there.
Starting From Why
If we are in a stagnant business due to present economic conditions, then here are some key questions to ask:
1. Why should we remain in business?
2. Why do our clients need us?
3. Why are we relevant in a pandemic world?
4. What will our business be worth and why?
5. Who will buy our business and why?
Notice that all of the above questions involve a ‘why’. Defining our ‘why’ is part of the entrepreneurial journey. Questioning ourself, revisiting our why and clarifying our beliefs is also periodically necessary, particularly when experiencing economic hardship. When we start from why, we are essentially plumbing for certainty in a world of uncertainty.
Look for answers not on the outside but on the inside.
Plumbing for Certainty
In yoga, we are taught that the answers to life’s problems are not always to be found outside of ourselves but inside ourselves. From this principle, it follows that when we cannot find certainty on the external level, then we need to turn inward to ‘plumb’ for answers. Over the course of the lockdowns in India and subsequently, I have plumbed for answers to the above questions over and over again, so as to uncover and clarify for myself some key beliefs and certainties that I need in order to persevere in business.
For entrepreneur who are struggling psychologically with the present business environment and the impact of COVID, I believe there may be value in wrestling with the above questions and trying to answer them, then refining the answers, and then repeating the answers to oneself, over and over, until there is conviction and certainty. This practice helped me, and continues to help me, to reclaim much of the zeal, motivation, and determination that was destroyed when the lockdowns hit home in March 2020.
If we never asked the above questions before, no problem. No better time to start then now. We can reimagine and repurpose our business afresh. But let me clarify that reviving our motivation and/or pivoting our business is not the only purpose of asking and answering the above questions. There is another purpose: the law of manifestation.
Remembering our 'why' gives us the motivation to persevere.
​Law of Manifestation
Over the ages, there have been many seers, scholars, coaches and motivational speakers talk about the law of manifestation, each putting their own spin on it. For me, the law of manifestation is essentially this: that which is held in mind (good or bad) and repeated over and over (aloud or silently) tends to manifest.
Our thoughts are energy. And energy, when sufficiently amassed and channeled, ultimately gives rise to physical form. This is the law of manifestation in a nutshell.
In business, as I saw with my father, the key to manifestation is holding in mind with absolute certainty a vision of what we wish to manifest or bring into being. Every successful entrepreneur starts with a belief about something or in something, and then cultivates and fuels that belief with more and more certainty over time. Henry Ford, Andrew Carnegie, Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, and countless other billionaires have demonstrated this principle over the ages.
Cultivating unyielding certainty in the face of all uncertainty and adversity is the path of nearly every successful, filthy rich entrepreneur. If we cannot do this, then entrepreneurship may not be the right path for us. But the reality is we can all do this, with enough practice and effort. We can all cultivate certainty, once we realize its importance and by asking the right questions. After all, the entirety of life is uncertain when considers the fragility of health and the inevitability of death. Yet in all this, we must find our certainties and fuel them with belief, which compels us to act and, ultimately, attracts the resources to help manifest our vision.
But remember also: most people will not buy into our vision or believe our story and will question what we do and why we do it. And that’s okay. Roll with the punches.
This rumination dawned on me when one of my friends asked me about my travel and hospitality business, Ayurooms, which has seen no substantive revenue since March 2020, when panic and lockdowns gripped India. He asked me what I was doing for my business, given the downturn in international travel and tourism, on which my business was totally dependent. And he sounded surprised when I told him that I was totally focussed on (a) revamping my website, (b) building a new website, and (c) learning all the jobs, such as video editing and digital marketing, that I had previously paid others to do. Now why would I be doing all these things?
The answer lies in the certainties that are cemented in my mind and which I continue to cultivate every single day. And that is the key, I believe, to not just surviving, but indeed thriving in times of uncertainty. Let me add also that to thrive in a pandemic world, we need a strong immune system, both literally and figuratively.
Just as the body needs an an immune system, so too does the mind.
Building the Immune System
Just like the body needs a strong immune system to battle viruses and ward-off infection, so too the mind needs an immune system to counteract criticism, negativity, disbelief, and dispassion, whether these feelings are coming from others or, as is often the case, from one’s own mind. Reclaiming and cultivating our certainties, and stacking our certainties one upon the other, builds a barricade around our beliefs and the raison d’etre for one’s business. This is the notion of building a mental immune system.
Now let me clarify that I was not born with certainty or immunity to despondency, fear, anger, frustration and other emotions that accompanied the pandemic. Sometimes, we need to get sick in order to build, rebuild, and strengthen the immune system. What is true for the physical is true for the mental, and vice versa. If we didn’t get emotionally down every once in a while, it would be harder to empathize with the feelings of others and it would be harder to feel genuine gratitude for strength of mind when it returns.
So when we’re feeling a little down about our business, it’s okay. If our mind is not firing on all cylinders, it’s okay. If we don’t know what to do next in our business, it’s okay. Start with the list of questions that I presented earlier, meditate upon them, and go deep. Plumb for answers.
As we develop new good habits, old bad habits loosen their grip.
Plumbing Practices for the Soul
I am not a mental health expert nor a life coach or a doctor. Thus, I cannot say whether there is any fixed formula or evidence-based approach for plumbing for certainty when the mind is in the grips of uncertainty, fear and anxiety. However, my own pandemic journey and entrenched set of rituals – plumbing practices for the soul – have led me to believe that there are certain activities that can and do help the mind to find its feet, build immunity, and find certainty in the midst of uncertainty.
Here is the set of plumbing practices or rituals that I have found helpful:
Meditation (every morning)
Contemplation
Yoga (4-5 times a week)
Walking (at least 10,000 steps a day)
Reading (at least 10 to 15 minutes a day)
Listening (to inspirational podcasts, binaural beats, etc.)
Detoxing (using Ayurvedic techniques)
Energy Healing (using The Healing Code)
Sleeping (before 10 pm daily)
Prayer (morning and evening)
Not checking my phone when I wake up (for at least 1 hour)
Each of the above items merits a lengthy discussion on its own, which goes beyond the scope of this article. However, what I will say is that at the core of each practice above is a new habit. For me, the lockdowns were an opportunity to initiate, adopt and cultivate a series of new ‘good’ habits, in order to gradually replace or reduce the grip of old ‘bad’ habits.
Why let gadgets sabotage the morning? Try leaving it aside for the first hour of the day.
Reclaiming our certainties and cultivating them is a habit of mind, a ritual, that can be brought about by replacing our weaker habits with greater and more powerful new habits.
I cannot say whether any of the above practices will work for you. What I can say is that great energy and great power is needed to conquer the fearful, angry mind and to replace uncertainty with certainty.
Power and energy come through our habits. We all have habits that either reduce energy or give energy. It is for each to individual to make an honest assessment of his or her habits, and to see what energy-depleting habits need either reduction or replacement and what energy-enhancing habits need adoption, cultivation or fortification.
As certainty returns to the mind and energy to the body, the mind and body are able to get back to business and to focus on what needs to be done.
I cannot say whether any of the above practices will work for you. What I can say is that great energy and great power is needed to conquer the fearful, angry mind and to replace uncertainty with certainty.
Power and energy come through our habits. We all have habits that either reduce energy or give energy. It is for each to individual to make an honest assessment of his or her habits, and to see what energy-depleting habits need either reduction or replacement and what energy-enhancing habits need adoption, cultivation or fortification.
As certainty returns to the mind and energy to the body, the mind and body are able to get back to business and to focus on what needs to be done.
As we emerge from the pandemic, people will seek natural means to immunize themselves from viruses.
Getting back to business
Those in the travel business, hospitality business, or in businesses dependent on these economic sectors have been particularly hard hit by the pandemic and I share their immense pain. What gives me some solace are the certainties that I have found and cultivated in the face of uncertainty, as follows:
1. Most people love to travel and will travel again. It is only a matter of time.
2. As we emerge from the pandemic, people will become (if they are not already) increasingly mindful about their health and their vulnerabilities, and so any business that promotes individual health, family health or public health will be in demand.
3. While fear and coercion may induce many people to inject themselves with vaccines, there is a growing constituency in the world who will seek natural means to immunize themselves from viruses. These are my constituents and the future patrons of Ayurooms.
4. Prior to the pandemic, wellness tourism was growing in excess of 10% per year, while some estimates were higher than 20%. In India, the core drivers of wellness tourism have been Ayurveda, yoga, and naturopathy. These systems of medicine have existed for thousands of years and have survived pandemics and systematic suppression before. They will continue to survive.
5. People from all around the world travel to India every year, sometimes multiple times a year, for a holistic detox that optimizes their health and strengthens their immune system. These people are religious about detox and can’t wait to travel again. The pandemic has not weakened their will to seek Ayurveda and natural remedies. If anything, it has renewed their faith in the holistic sciences.
So when my friend, in a state of doubt, asked me about the future of wellness hospitality, I mentioned to him the above certainties. His reply was, “Do you think that I can come in September for a detox?” My reply was, “I don’t know. It all depends on when international flights resume.”
Certainty is contagious. Certainty is good. My friend’s certainty in the benefits of an Ayurvedic detox has him itching to come back to India and trumped his uncertainty about travelling. But alas, what we cannot control is the timeframe and longevity of this pandemic. So in the meantime, we reinvent ourselves and perhaps even our business.
Above all else, we clarify and crystallize our certainties and hold them in mind to expedite their manifestation or materialization. From certainty, we build.
What are your certainties? Leave a comment
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