Uncertainty

I struck me, this week, just how horrible uncertainty can be. It paralyzes you and stops almost all productive activity. You can sit and write for hours, but if you don't have a direction, all of that work amounts to nothing. You need this direction for pretty much anything you do in school, and in life. What's nice about the ISP (information search process), is that it acknowledges the fact that when you start a project, you probably have absolutely no idea where it will go. Uncertainty is the emotion linked with the first step of the process. With this, the ISP gives you hope that you will find some sort of continuity in your research.

Moving past this overwhelming sense of ambiguity is hard. It required work that many people aren't willing to put into a project.  But, when this feeling of insurmountable indecision is finally moved past, great things can happen. Overcoming uncertainty leads us to discovery. Sure, it may be a simple discovery. It may be a small snippet of information or even a slightly new way of looking at something you've seen a million times, but it is significant. It frees you do accomplish things you would never had dreamt of. There is a finite and absolute reason why uncertainty is the first step in the ISP. It's only the start of the journey...