How Do I Deal With Uncertainty?
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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 of whore is a vacuum. And one that'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, again, how many ever 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 might be looking for some camaraderie along this journey of flourishing 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 let's talk about it. Here we are.
Life. Life is here. And regardless of what's happening in yours, there's likely stuff happening.
And yeah, profound, Alex, right? Seriously, though, you may be struggling with health issues yourself or someone in your family. There's a million different things that could be happening that are challenging, that bring uncertainty.
They bring fear. They bring concern, anxiety, those things. 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 not tariff ripped off or whatever else. Again, again, I don't care if you love the current administration, hate the current 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 ultimately the right thing or ultimately the wrong thing, whatever in between, you've got to live today. And today it's uncertain and 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 COVID hit or when markets crash or other wars break out, God forbid, and 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. It's real. I mean, you could not watch the news and you could not follow anything or whatever.
And even today, how do you discern between truth and made-up stuff? I don't know. But ultimately, you could not follow this stuff.
Still doesn't mean it's not happening. Still doesn't mean it's not going to affect you and your family and your business and your community.
And so, from 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, I don't know how you keep up right now, Cainly, with AI moving so quickly and 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 level that, okay, then what decisions do we make? We operate globally. Tariffs matter.
We operate in technology. AI matters. All these things, all these things that come at you.
All right, so I'm sure in your world, you could easily, within a few minutes, not even have to finish a cup of coffee, maybe just get a couple of first sips in, 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. Nobody has a guaranteed next day. It is what it is. So I guess what I want to share with you is what I've found that's worked for me.
And as you imagine, it's really simple. I mean, 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, you know, you guys know, I've made fun of a lot of times, like these three tricks that uncertainty hates, you know, 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 day out, you start your thought process out, you start your work, you start whatever you start, if you start with gratitude, and we do this, I think I've talked about on the podcast before, at Mount Leridge, we start most every
meeting, not all of them, because it's not like this, you know, a safety briefing you get from some giant corporation or anything, but 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 their first game, or got an A, or whatever it is, or it's, hey, we just closed 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, and all outside of that. But it just sets the right tone.
And so for me, fundamentally, if I'm starting from a place of gratitude, of counting my blessings, everything else just runs better. And I know that's willy-nilly, and you can, whatever, I get it.
But hey, man, we're here, and it's how life works for me. So your mileage may vary, but I'm not saying you have to create a gratitude journal, method, or a protocol. I mean, hey, more power to you.
And I've done that before, and there's benefits to that. 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 derogatory. It's easy to do those things, because there's a lot of things to point to. And, candidly, news, social media, all those things are thriving on that.
That's what, you know, there's a reason your news feed is filled with a bunch of stuff that you hate, because it does draw a sense. It's almost like rubbernecking driving down the road, and there's a crash next to you.
You're like, what's going on over there? And so it pulls at us, and that's part of our DNA or upbringing in the world. I get it.
But man, if we can turn that on its head and start with gratitude, I just, it makes a huge difference for me. So that's one. Starting with gratitude, I've found to be, just sets the tone for everything.
And 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 that, but things are going to happen. So your perspective about those things matters for how you feel.
And so when the thing's happening, if I can come in with gratitude, it can be a hard thing, it can be a bad thing happening. And I just, it just feels different. It hits different.
And for me, it's made, I mean, 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 others strive off of that.
You talk about leading and flourishing, and you can't be grateful for things. It's gonna be hard to get there. So anyway, that's one.
So all the noise, the next news cycle, whatever else, I try to find things I'm grateful for, even in those news sometimes.
I was like, you might, all right, let's say, let's say you have a disdain for a particular leader or whatever else on your local area or the national area or global, whatever. 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. While at the same time, you can eye roll, or you can be frustrated with whatever. 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 beat it dead, but it's so, so, so critical.
All right, so for me, so the next two things are, again, as much of what I talk about, it's probably not satisfying because it's not like this easy, quick fix click or whatever, but take care of yourself, man. So having gratitude is helpful.
But if we're then run down because we're so frustrated, we're doom scrolling and we're eating poor foods because we're stressed and we're, and I, look, I haven't solved this whole self care thing, but I'm really focusing on it.
And the more you take care of yourself, the more energy you have, the more mindset, the ability to be patient with your kids or to be thoughtful with your employees and whatever else, whatever your role is or with your bosses, however, however you're
structured and whatever you're doing, the ability to be at your best from a health care standpoint, from a wellness standpoint, whether that's you're moving your body, you're sleeping better, you're starting there is a great place. You're, you know,
you've got, you've got meditation, prayer, whatever you've got going on, right? You're enriching your mind, all those things, taking care of yourself, 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 didn't have a great day yesterday. I didn't sleep well the night. No, no, 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 wasn't good at all.
And lots of reasons for that. And I woke up after just an hour or so, a couple of hours maybe. And I just, I wasn't feeling it, man.
And you know, you would like to, okay, I double down on my, I want to tell you, I 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, it didn't make it better.
It doesn't make it better. But when I'm at my best and I have 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.
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.
I can control what food goes in my mouth, or drinks go in my mouth. 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 what I can focus on. So again, gratitude is a mindset, not just writing down a journal. That's great.
Do that, sure, if you want. But a mindset of gratitude, but then take care of yourself. That's really important.
And however, whatever it is you need, and we could talk. There's so many people that are better than me that they could talk for hours on this stuff. But we'll talk more probably at times it'll come up.
But there are, that right there is the baseline. But then the piece, right? If you're going to flourish, flipping it around, taking care of others.
If you're only folks and 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 just like, bro, man, come on. You're just about you.
And not that they're bad people. It's not, it's just we get pulled into this. And I love, so I'm a red blooded American, just like many of you are that are listening.
Not all of you are, and that's 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. Okay, cool. And that's good.
And I've embraced that 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 used to listen to, and I still occasionally, maybe 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 loved that phraseology. Maybe it's been used otherwise. Maybe that's a, I think that might be 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, right? Somewhere it is written.
Take care of yourself and take care of others. And that take care of others piece is awesome. And that doesn't have to be you need to go rescue somebody from a burning 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 mail carrier, whatever it is, and you're kind to them. That's good for them.
That's good for you. You're out and about. Maybe you're at the shopping center, grocery store, whatever it is.
Gas station, doesn't matter. Those things. Then being deliberate also, like, how can I actively help this person that I'm talking to?
So you talk about in the company and 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 from me right now?
How can I help them? And you don't run around, you're not the world's saviour. 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 less uncertainty. And I'm the CEO, dad, go on it.
And there's all these challenges. And, you know, I got to... Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Fine. Or I'm the dad. You kids are...
There's all these things you don't know about paying bills. Of course, of course, but what do they need from 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 at that lower vibration that's fundamental to things. And so all three of these things, guys, I know they're not tactics for how to navigate the new cycle.
There's things we can talk about with that. But, man, this is like 80-20. This is like the 80, in my opinion.
And again, there's lots of other things I might do in a day or in 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 me.
Again, maybe, you know, your mileage may vary, but having a spirit of gratitude, superpower. Focusing on yourself, 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. That's fine. And this is going to be different in every community.
I didn't grow up in your community. So maybe your community is the same way. But one thing I love about it, we got a lot of problems and you can easily point to all the socioeconomic challenges.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Easy money. And before you start telling a joke, I could have 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 something down the road happens, people are checking in on one another.
That is that's that neighborly piece. And I'll tell you that all the quality of life stuff that people can point to in any small rural community and all that stuff, right there, 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 tried to share that in the larger community that I'm working in.
That's why we're doing flourishing, right? That's all part of this is I'm sharing with you things that maybe are of value to you. You know, if it's not, you don't have to tune in.
That's cool. But maybe they're of value to you. And so sorry, get off 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 ex Twitter, whatever you see on Instagram, of all these cool things people will try this and do these five moves.
And yeah, OK, 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 in 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 it. You can curl into a ball and you can absolutely want to just lay there and die.
Sure, I get that. And I'm not making light 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 news. Don't tell them that's why you share with them, but go ahead and share it with them.
And, you know, maybe that'll help us grow this group and find more more folks who are like minded and looking 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.
