How to be uncertainly certain – finding what you love and doing it

The world is such a high-speed high-energy place right now with uncertainty everywhere.
As human beings we crave a certain amount of certainty.
So how can you live well? Can you be uncertainly certain? Where does certainty come from and is it even a thing?

My story

As a young collaborative pianist and vocal coach launching into the freelance world I had a great deal of uncertainty. I left college with few job prospects, a terrible place to live and very little income. What I did have was a certainty that I was good at what I did. I was a national prizewinning pianist and scholarship winner. I also believed in luck (and believed that you could encourage “luck” to happen).

Even though I was an introvert and undiagnosed ADHD I still took some risks. One event in my mid-20s stood out – I’d moved to Leeds (no job, no piano) and wandered into a piano shop and just started playing. The shop owner liked it so much he offered me an occasional job playing solo classical stuff on digital pianos. Through him I met the high-ups at the Yamaha Corporation and very quickly became “Celebrated keyboard artist” for their national tour and then the guest artiste and presenter for their national competition. And yes, I really was twenty-something in this programme photograph.

Then when I moved to London (again with no job in sight) I wrote 750 targeted letters to producing houses and companies around the country. I got 49 replies (“we’ll keep your details on file”) and one offer of an audition to understudy in the West End. I ended up covering two shows at the same time (The Sneeze with Rowan Atkinson, and Re:Joyce with Maureen Lipman) and working during the day as rehearsal pianist on a third (Mikado for the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company).

Embracing uncertainty

All of these came about because I embraced the uncertainty and put myself out there.

These are also examples of something that it took me many years and several prods from other people to realise. I’m quite good at improvising in life.

That’s actually hilarious to me because I’ve never been an improviser on the piano. But I came to understand that I could go into a situation not knowing what was going to happen, not having a “plan”, and just stay open and aware.

I realise now I’ve done that in almost every job I’ve accepted for the last 40 years. And I’ve invariably been asked back. I don’t think that’s because I’m better than anyone else, or even that I’m the natural choice. I think it’s because I pay attention to what’s needed, and provide it to the best of my ability. And people love that.

I think it’s because I can step into the area of uncertainly certain.

 

How do you harness uncertainly certain?

You start by finding what you do well. It could be teaching a particular thing, working in a particular environment, interacting with a particular demographic, or doing a particular process. And then you look for areas that you can apply that skill to that is outside what you normally do.

I know I’m good at asking questions, spotting patterns and building a picture. I also know that I’m highly experienced working to a performance standard with people I’ve never met before (8500+ auditions in the West End and counting). Those form part of my “certainty”.

I also know that I have no fixed ideas about what someone should or shouldn’t do or how the session is going to go. Creating music with literally thousands of singers and instrumentalists in concert has taught me that there’s no such thing as the “right” way to make music. That’s my “uncertainty”.

It was never on my bingo card to become a career coach, but I have built the skills that fit the job description, and I’m very happy to say the job fits me really well. Just as singers need a vocal coach to hear and advise them, everyone working in the music industry need someone knowledgeable to stand outside and help them understand and use the skills they already have.

I’ve worked with people I know, and with people I have never met, and I use the same process to cocreate with them. You go in with no preconceived ideas, you listen, ask questions and build a profile that you check and confirm with the person. Then you can use intuition, experience or imagination to spot and collate indicators and patterns that fit the person in front of you. You check, discuss then suggest steps to take that will either change the pattern or support its growth.

Even though I use the same process, the outcomes are entirely different. It depends on the person in the room, their history, experience, skills and beliefs, and their interaction with you. That’s what makes it fascinating.

In every session, you start with an open mind, listening for what someone is saying AND what they mean (two different things). You ask questions and gently prod for more information.

It’s an interesting balance to maintain. But it works, and it’s how I can live and ultimately thrive on that uncertainly certain edge.

Part of the fun is recognising what you already have and discovering talents you didn’t think were important. Once you start aligning your life to what you already love doing, other people recognise your skill and want you to help them. And you love doing it.

 

Want to find out what you do best, and turn your career around? Book a career coaching session with me.