Uncertainty is uncomfortable. It can make us anxious, impatient, and eager for answers—even when clear answers do not yet exist. In this program, journalist Simone Stolzoff, author of How to Not Know, argues that learning to live with uncertainty can open the door to creativity, adaptability, and deeper connection.
Stolzoff describes “uncertainty tolerance” as the ability to withstand what we do not know. Rather than treating uncertainty only as a threat, he encourages people to see it as a space where possibility can emerge. That mindset matters in everything from work and education to relationships and decisions about the future.
He offers four practical principles: find your anchors, build to learn, trust your future self to handle future problems, and choose curiosity over fear.
One idea is especially simple and useful: action can create clarity.
“The best way through uncertainty is through action, is through building, and building is the fastest way to learn,” Stolzoff says.
That might mean trying a small experiment instead of waiting for the perfect plan, focusing energy on what can be influenced, or staying open to new information rather than locking into certainty too quickly.
Stolzoff’s message is not that uncertainty is easy or something to celebrate automatically. It is that certainty can narrow our thinking, while not knowing can leave room for discovery, surprise, and change.
His closing metaphor captures the idea: even when the lake is covered in fog, the job is still to keep rowing. Sometimes clarity comes only after we begin to move.