Speaker A grew up anxious and playing it safe, until learning emotional regulation improved both wellbeing and creativity enough to run a lab. They discuss the Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale, a 25-question assessment that measures how much someone avoids uncertainty versus tolerates it without excessive anxiety.
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We love certainty, don't we? Right. Uncertainty. Right. But when you start to realize that it's continually tripping us up and limiting us, you know, that goes back to who I was as a child. I think I was anxious in moments of uncertainty and I played safe too much. And when you, when you play safe, because I couldn't handle the emotions, it was too much of a cost. It was for me when I was younger, it was unsustainable to be in uncertainty because it produced such high anxiety when I started to, to to understand and work, it's just a reaction. It's not a reality. It's my brain just trying to keep me safe. You know, I could actually start to learn emotional regulation and that I didn't realize at the time was not just helping my wellbeing, but helping me be more innovative, more creative. And eventually now, you know, I, I run a lab, a better leader, I hope.
Now at the beginning of the conversation, you mentioned we were talking about uncertainty and how to measure it, and you mentioned something that's on your website. And I, I caught it as a tolerance uncertainty test. Yeah. Could you explain that?
Yes. So this is a, it comes from the world of behavioral psychology. It's an incredibly valid scientific assessment. And it's, it's called the, it's actually called the Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale. And it shows you, it, it, it asks you a series of questions. There's about 25 questions. It's been, you know, tested. To the nth degree within science to accurately show you a score of how much you try and avoid uncertainty versus how much you can contently and without huge anxiety be in a moment of uncertainty, be in a moment where there's a decision needing to be made or things suddenly change.
