How to Deal with Uncertainty

Q: I am a recent graduate of Harvard. I just graduated in May. I am leaving tomorrow for England to do a master’s program. I want to ask you about uncertainty and how to deal with uncertainty. So, for example, basically, the reason I am doing this master’s program is because I want to see if I want to study for a Ph.D. And basically, because the program is a year, if I want to do a Ph.D. next year, I need to decide in the next month. Let’s say, whether or not I want to do it, do applications, to get stuff, you know, basically to get the process go. But I can’t really make that decision until I go and see how this next program is going to be. The way that I deal with uncertainty in these kinds of situations right now is to think about the time frame. How much time that I have to deal with it, and really take everything day by day and see how things evolve. So focus more on the present and how things come instead of resigning myself to something that just kind of could say ‘I am going to do this in the future’. But I wanted to see what you might have to say about dealing with uncertainty in these kinds of situations.