Ask yourself: When was the last time everything went exactly, precisely according to plan? Answer: Never. Whether for better or worse, something you worked on didn’t turn out exactly as you’d want it to. It doesn’t matter how much you steered it to a certain direction. The truth is that you couldn’t have called either the upside or the downside you experienced.

Which is why Seneca reminds us: “The whole future lies in uncertainty: live immediately.”

Everything to come is uncertain. So embrace that. Expect it. Focus on what is in the here-and-now. Don’t let your best moments and energy fritter away in concern for something you know you have limited control over anyway.

There’s an old military saying “Get comfortable with being uncomfortable.” If you know that what’s to come is uncertain, it not only won’t bother you, you come to relish it. After all, if you knew how every minute of every day of your life was going to play out, you’d end up bored beyond all possible belief. So think of uncertainty as the cure for that boredom. A future you can’t predict is central to keeping you learning and growing.