How Do I Deal With Uncertainty?
LISTEN ON YOUR FAVORITE PLATFORMS
FULL TRANSCRIPT BELOW ⬇️
What do you do when uncertainty takes over?
How do you handle fear, doubt, and the unknown without getting overwhelmed?
Today, Alex unpacks the 3 key principles he relies on during times of uncertainty. These aren’t quick-fix “hacks” or feel-good advice—they’re battle-tested strategies that have helped him navigate unpredictable moments, both in business and in life.
Uncertainty is a given, but how you respond to it is a choice. In this episode, Alex reveals the mindset shifts and daily habits that help him stay centered, focused, and resilient, no matter what challenges arise.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
✅ The superpower of gratitude and how it shifts your mindset
✅ Why taking care of yourself is non-negotiable during chaotic times
✅ How focusing on others can help stabilize your own uncertainty
✅ The mindset shifts that make uncertainty less overwhelming and more manageable
Success isn’t about eliminating uncertainty...it’s about learning to thrive despite it.
What We Discuss:
00:00 – Intro
0:52 – Why uncertainty is inevitable (and how to stop resisting it)
03:45 – Strategy #1: The power of gratitude in uncertain times
08:10 – Strategy #2: Why self-care matters more when life feels out of control
10:22 – Strategy #3: How shifting your focus to others creates stability
19:50 – Final thoughts & practical steps
📩 Have a question for Alex? Email us at flourish@reneman.com
💬 Enjoyed the episode? Share this with someone who’s struggling with uncertainty and might need a fresh perspective.
🗳️ Feedback for the show? Fill out our form here: https://forms.gle/Fo5LYrx9TZx8bLJd6
Audio Transcript:
As it's often been said. Nature abhors a vacuum, and one that it's going to apply to. Today's conversation is markets hate uncertainty. before we get into that, though, I do just want to thank those of you who have reviewed the podcast, given its stars and your comments, whatever it is, and you know how many other stars you think we're worth.
But if you're enjoying this podcast, just urge you to do that. It does help us ultimately. And again, there's no goal here. You won't hear advertisements on this podcast or anything like that. This is just about getting out to those that, that might be looking for, some, some camaraderie along this journey of flourishing as, as you are and as I am.
So, with that said, thank you. And, if you get a chance to do that, please do. So. What's the story? Here we are. Life. Life is here. And regardless of what's happening in yours, there's likely stuff happening. And, Yeah. And, you know, profound. Alex, right? Seriously, though, you may be struggling with health issues yourself or someone in your family.
there's there's a million different things that could be happening that are challenging, that bring uncertainty. They bring a fear, they bring concern, anxiety, those things, you know, certainly, when I talk about markets hate uncertainty, regardless of what team you're on or if you're on any team, no team, whatever the reality is right now in business, it's uncertain.
Who knows what's going to come up in the next news cycle tomorrow about a new tariff or tariff ripped off or whatever else? Again? Again. I don't care if you love the current administration. You hate Carr administration. It just doesn't matter. Let's pull all the politics aside. It makes for a frenetic market and that whether you think they're they're ultimately the right thing or ultimately the wrong thing, whatever.
Between you got to live today and today, it's uncertain and it's it's a challenge. And so markets are facing this. So are businesses and so are business leaders. And so I assume in your world there's all kinds of uncertainty anyway. But now we've got a bunch more. It's similar to like when when Covid hit or when markets crash or or other wars break out, God forbid, all kinds of things happen in the world.
they bring uncertainty to us that we really can't control. And so I just want to talk briefly today how you handle that. Well, I would love to hear how you handle it. I handle it in a way that's works ish for me. I mean, there's just there's no way to ignore. It's real. I mean, you could not watch the news and you could not follow anything.
Whatever. And, you know, even today, how do you discern between truth and, you know, made up stuff? I don't know, but but ultimately, you could you could not for a list of starters means not having it still doesn't mean it's not going to affect you and your family and your business and your community. And so as for my perspective as a founder, a father and a friend, I do take it as a priority to try to at least know what's going on generally.
I mean, how do you know how you keep up right now keenly with with I moving so quickly and our, you know, the policies, geopolitical policies moving so quickly and back and forth, I just I don't know how you keep up. So it's not like I'm trying to keep up with the Joneses in that way and stay on top of everything.
But I do feel it's important to track this. So it's going to bring a level of stress, a level of uncertainty, a lot of that. Okay. Then what what decisions do we make? We operate globally. Tariffs matter. we we operate in technology. AI matters. All these things, all these things that come at you. All right. So so I'm sure in your world you could easily, within a few minutes, not even have to finish your cup of coffee.
Maybe just get a couple for sips in. You could you could easily get yourself stressed and potentially into an overridden situation by thinking about all the challenges of uncertainty that are out there in the world today. Right? Nobody has a guaranteed next day. It is what it is. So I guess that what I what I want to share with you is what is what.
I've found this work for me, and it's as you imagine, it's really simple. I mean, I you know, I can't carry too much complexity sometimes in my world. And so it's a simple approach for me that has paid dividends. It's not the only things I do. And it doesn't work always. It's not it's not you know, you guys not make fun a lot at times like these three tricks that uncertainty hates.
You know, it's it's not that but it does help. And so right off the bat the first thing I try to do is focus on gratitude. And yeah, yeah I know I roll whatever. But when you start the the day out, you start your thought process. How do you start your work? You start what do you start if you start with gratitude.
And we do this I think I've talked about on the podcast before at large, we start most every meeting, not all of them, because it's not like this, you know, safety briefing you get from some giant corporation or anything. But it's it's we just start with gratitude. Like who's got some good news, who's got something they're grateful for.
And it can be, hey, my kid just won the championship, or my kid just played in the first game or or got an A or whatever it is, or it's, hey, we just close this customer and we just did this awesome thing for him, or this customer just acquired another company and they're even bigger and they're doing great.
Who knows? Right. And everything in between, everything and all that side of that. But it just it just sets the right tone. And so for me, fundamentally, if I'm starting from place of gratitude, of counting my blessings, it just everything else just runs better. And I know that's willy nilly and you can whatever. I get it. But hey, man, it's, we're here and it's how, it's how how life works for me.
So your mileage may vary, but, you know, I'm not saying you have to create a gratitude journal method. All your, protocol. I mean, hey, more power to you. And I've done that before, and there's there's benefits to that. I'm just. It's more about a state of mind, a state of gratitude. And that's not so easy. I think it's really easy to be critical, to be, you know, derogatory.
It's easy to do those things is just a lot of things to point to and candidly, news, social media, all those things are thriving on that. That's what you know. It's a series. Your newsfeed is filled with a bunch of stuff that you hate because it does dross. It's almost like rubbernecking driving down the road and and there's a crash next either, like what's going on over there.
And so it, it it pulls it pulls at us and that's, that's part of our DNA or upbringing in, in the world I get it. But man, if we can turn it on its head and start with gratitude, I just it makes a huge difference for me. So that's that's one starting with gratitude I found to be just sets the tone for everything.
and, you know, here's the reality. The thing is happening. The thing is happening. The things are going to happen. I'm not saying we can't influence them. We can maybe do it, but but things are going to happen. So your perspective about those things matters for how you feel. And so when the things happening, if I can come in with gratitude, it can be a hard thing.
It'd be a bad thing happening. And I just it just feels different. It hits different and for me, it's it's made. I mean, I, I mean, it's it's a superpower. Gratitude is a superpower. If you could turn the corner and be a grateful person, I firmly believe you are walking around us mere mortals. I mean, you now have a superpower that makes a huge difference in your life, and I think other thrive off of that.
You talk about leading and flourishing and keep gratitude. Grateful for things. it's be hard, hard to get there. So anyway, that's that's one. So all the the noise, the next news cycle, whatever else, I try to find things I'm grateful for, even in those news sometimes, like you might. All right. Let's say let's say you you have a disdain for a particular leader or whatever.
Also on your local area or, or the national area or global whatever. they can they can say things that are funny and you can appreciate that they could do some things that are valuable, and you can appreciate that what's in them. You can eyeroll or you can be frustrated. But but finding those things, it just helps, man.
It just helps. All right. So I beat that horse dead. Gratitude. The gratitude horse I don't want to be the dead. But it's so so so critical. Right. So for me so the next the next two things are again, as much of what I talk about, I was probably not satisfied because it's not like this easy quick fix clicker or whatever.
But take care of yourself man. So having gratitude is helpful. But if we're then run down because we're so fresh, we're doomscrolling and and we're eating poor foods because we're stressed and nervous and I look, I haven't solved this, this whole self-care thing, but I'm really focusing on it. And and the more you take care of yourself, the more energy you have, the more mindset, the the ability to be patient with your kids or to be to be thoughtful with your employees and whatever else, whatever your role is or with your bosses.
However, how are you structured? Whatever you're doing, the ability to be at your best from a from a health care standpoint, from a wellness standpoint, whether that's you're moving your body, you're sleeping better, you know, starting there's a great place, you're, you know, you've got you've got your meditation, prayer, whatever you've got going on. Right? Your enriching your mind, all those things, taking care of yourself that, that right there.
So in moments of stress, it's easy to revert to things you don't take care of. And again, truth, truth telling. I did have a great day yesterday. I didn't sleep well that night. No. Not yesterday. Sorry. Yeah, yeah. I didn't sleep well two nights ago. Last night I had a banner night of sleep, but the night before that, it was.
It was a good at all and lots of reasons for that. And I woke up after just an hour or so. A couple hours maybe. And I just. I wasn't feeling it, man. And, you know, you would like to okay. A double down on my I want to tell you a double down on my good, my good, protocols, things that I do that I know.
Help me. Whatever. No, I got some garbage food. I don't if it didn't make it better, it doesn't make it better. But when I'm at my best and I, I've taken those moments and I'm like, okay, now is when things are uncertain, things are unclear, things are bad. Whatever it may be. And I double down and I go.
I go throw the weights around or I go for a walk, or I make sure I'm doing the right thing from a diet perspective, or I'm really focusing on my sleep, whatever it may be. That always makes it better, I know it, then I can help those around me. I can execute the way I want to execute in the world.
And so in midst of everything changing, I can take control of myself. You know? I can control what goes in my what food goes in my mouth, I drinks good, I know I can control those things and it does help. It helps from a standpoint for me, from a standpoint of all these uncertainties flying around, here's, here's, here's what I can focus on.
So again, gratitude is it mindset. Not just I just write down a journal. That's great. Do that for sure if you want. But but a mindset of gratitude. But but then take care of yourself. That's really important. And however whatever it is you need. And we could talk. There's, there's so many people that are better me that they could talk for hours on the stuff, but we'll talk more probably at times it will come up.
But there are there are that that right. There's the baseline. But then the peace. Right. If you're going to flourish, flipping it around, taking care of others, if you're only focusing. You see so much of this today. And I hate it because I see people I love. They're just so narcissistic. They're focused on themselves and like, why didn't somebody do this for me?
Or why did? And I'm like, oh man, you, you're just about you. And I'm not that they're bad people. It's not. It's it's just we get pulled into this and and I love, you know, so I'm, I'm a red blooded American. Just like many of you are there listening. I don't know if you are in cool. You're a red blooded, whatever you are.
But, I mean, there's an individualism that comes with this and, like, you know, you're an individual and you, you I. Okay, cool. And that's good. And I've embraced it in my life at times for sure. But there's still a communal piece to this. There's a community of, you know, why are you an individual? Why are you free? How are you free?
There's a community that goes with all of that. And so, you know, having a mindset of gratitude, taking care of myself and then taking care of others. There's a podcast you should listen to. And I still occasionally maybe it's it's like Freakonomics or something where the ending, he says, you know, take care of yourself. And if you can't take care of someone else, I mean, I always love that, that phraseology.
Maybe it's it's been used. It was maybe that's a, I think that might be a, a quote out of a book, you know, classic. I don't remember, but anyway, you know, somewhere it is written, somewhere it is said, as the writer Hebrews would say, write somewhere it is written, take care of yourself and take care of those and that take care of this piece is awesome.
And that doesn't have to be. You need to go rescue somebody from a burning, you know, house or anything. I mean, certainly do that. Awesome. But just being kind and for me, being kind in those, those minor moments, you see the delivery person, right? The the mail carrier, whatever it is, and you're kind of them. That's good for them, that's good for you.
You're out and about. Maybe you're to the, you know, the shopping center, grocery store, whatever it is at gas station, it doesn't matter those things then, but being deliberate also like how can I actively help this person that I'm talking to? So you talk about it in the company and you're, you're you're engaging with employees or whatever. And I'm not just thinking about myself and taking care of me.
I'm also thinking about what does this person need for me right now? How can I help them? And you don't run around. You're not the world's savior. That's not it either. But just shifting just a bit from how can I make my life better? Because I'm stressed and I've got this uncertainty and I'm I'm the CEO tag on it, and there's all these challenges and you know, I, I got to yeah.
Yeah. Fine. Or I'm no I'm the I'm the dad you kids are I there's all these things you don't know about paying bills. You're of course of course. But what do they need for me in that moment? And that doesn't make the problems go away or the uncertainty go away. That's out there. But it does give me a chance to connect with them in a way that I think is that that is that that lower vibration.
That's that's a fundamental to things. And so all three of these things, guys, I know they're not tactics for how to navigate the news cycle. there's things we can talk about with that. But man, these are this is like 8020. This is like the 80, in my opinion. And again, there's lots of the things I might do in a day or an, a period when I'm struggling, a season of struggle, of uncertainty, which we're in.
But these three right here. Gold. They're gold for for me again, maybe you know, your mileage may vary, but, having a spirit of gratitude, super power, focusing on your self restorative. You got to be strong. To be strong for others. You got to be strong. And then sharing that, sharing that in a way, taking care of one another.
That's, we are a community of people in every major, civilization, religion, philosophy, whatever. There is a notion of one another. There's a notion of community, there's notion of of loving thy neighbor and all the things. I mean, one of the things I love about West Virginia, and I'm a hillbilly and I love it, and that's fine.
And this is going to be different every community. I didn't grow up in your community, so maybe your community is the same way. One thing I love about, you know, we got a lot of problems and you could easily point to all the socio economic challenges now. Yeah, yeah. Easy money. And before you start telling a joke, I could written it for you.
I've heard them all, so fine. But when something goes down, when someone needs something, when a neighbor needs help, when when something down the road happens, people are checking in on one another. That is. That's that neighborly piece. And and I'll tell you the, you know, all the quality of life stuff that people could point to in any small rural community and all that stuff right there that is that is big and it's hard to measure, and it doesn't get measured on these surveys that get put out there.
But I love that here. And so I try to share that in the larger community that I'm working. That's why we're doing flourishing. Right? That's that's all part of this is, is, is I'm sharing with you things that maybe are value to you. You know, if it's not, you don't have tune in. That's cool. But but maybe there is value to you.
And so sorry I get off on a, on a, on a, homer tangent there, but I just it's it's just magic. It's magic. And so of all the clever things you can see on X Twitter or whatever you see on Instagram of all these cool things people could do to try this and do these five moves and yeah, okay, cool.
Those things are neat. But fundamentally, spirit of gratitude. take care of yourself and take care of one another. That helps me survive all of the frenetic weirdness that goes on in the world today. So you're in the midst of this wild new cycle. And if you're a leader, an organization, or whatever else, even just as a consumer, it's going to affect you.
It's going to affect us all. you know, it's you can get wrapped around and you can curl into a ball and you can absolutely want to just lay there and die. I sure, I get that, and I'm not making light of of true challenges and depressions and things that are real in many of our lives. I'm not making light of any of that stuff, but starting with gratitude, taking care of yourself, and making a point to take care of one another makes a big difference.
So with that said, I just speak about taking care of one another. I really appreciate, each of you who've who've offered feedback, who've brought in questions, who've rated our podcast, all of that, it does help me. And so I'll just ask you to share this with with a person, share this, this podcast with someone who might be struggling with the news cycle.
You may have heard him really frustrated about what they saw on this channel or that channel. Maybe the two opposite channels are all the 15 that go outside of them, or they read something or whatever. Just share with someone who's struggling there. So don't tell them. That's why you share with them, but go and share with them. And, you know, maybe that'll that'll help us grow this group and find more, more folks who are like minded and looking for for a way to flourish.
So with that said, I hope wherever you may be, regardless of the news cycle, you are flourishing.
Alex Reneman is the founder of Mountain Leverage and Unleash Tygart and host of Flourishing w/ Alex Reneman. For 20+ years he has worked as CEO of Mountain Leverage, honing the concept of flourishing and experimenting with it in the business. In July of 2024, he decided to begin to share this idea with others, which led to his podcast, social content, and the plans for other initiatives in the future.
