Every year I carefully put away my holiday lights to make next year’s tree decorating experience less frustrating. I’m convinced naughty elves invade my decorations, probably during the summer when I least expect them, taking my carefully wrapped strands and rolling them into a giant ball of chaos.
Unraveling them as the holidays approach is always a daunting task. I look for a place to start by finding an end that’s breaking free. I pull on it. But it only makes things worse. The harder I pull, the tighter the knot becomes and the more hopeless the situation seems.
So, I pick another strand and try that one. Same thing. I usually find myself violently shaking the whole mess hoping the light strands will magically come apart, but it never works. I end up throwing the tangled mess aside and walk away, hoping to gather my thoughts … and find some patience.
The key to unraveling the lights is patience and awareness.
It’s starting with one strand and following what you know about it. It’s creating space within the ball by stretching it out, not pulling on it to make it tighter. This space allows you to see the individual strands as they begin to separate. Things get easier and faster.
So, why am I talking about Christmas lights in June?
A client I was working with recently was taking their company to the next level. It was a big step for everyone. Lots of risk. They were expanding into an area of the business where few of the existing employees had previous experience. The change was coming at them faster than anyone was comfortable with.
As everyone voiced their concerns, the image of a giant ball of tangled Christmas lights popped into my head. This is exactly what the situation felt like.
There were endless issues to be addressed. As soon as one issue was explored, a flood of additional questions surfaced. One challenge led to another, and it was getting more unwieldy. It was as if the harder they pulled, the more entangled they got.
This is how change feels. Without a good starting place, it grows into a giant ball of chaos. It’s tempting to want to shake the whole thing and hope all the answers magically appear. But that doesn’t work. The bigger the climb to the next level, the more chaos you encounter.
The more chaos you encounter, the more patience, awareness, and space you need to find the starting point.
The biggest challenge is uncertainty. The unknown feels scary and unsafe. It’s tempting to start by trying to solve all the things you don’t know, but that just expands the ball of chaos.
Instead, start with what you know and build from there.
My client’s team began to develop systems to track what they knew. From there, they could see the next piece of information they needed to learn. More systems were created to gather data that led to a higher level of understanding.
As they slowly built a solid foundation beneath them, they gained more clarity about what needed to get done. Eventually, all the pieces fell into place.
If you’re facing a lot of uncertainty, pause and consider your situation like a giant ball of tangled-up Christmas lights. Be patient. Take a deep breath. Start with what you know. And trust things will start to align.
How can you embrace chaos to start moving past uncertainty?