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Finding Certainty in Uncertainty
Srikar Karra
March 13, 2025
Welcome to the Inner Edge, where I explore insights on wealth, fulfillment, growth, and mastery.
For a period of time, I would find myself thinking about things I couldn’t control.
How am I going to cope once my parents pass away?
What if I’m unable to become successful?
What if I can’t find the right partner in marriage?
Without even knowing it, I was living in a constant state of overthinking.
Soon, I realized that thinking this way was dragging me down.
So I decided to make a change about the things I think/worry about:
If it's in my control, I'm going to do my best to make sure I get an ideal outcome. This way I can minimize regret and chase towards deeper meaning.
If it's not in my control, then there's no point in even thinking about it. What difference will it make, other than bring down my emotions?
And that’s when I began to work on the things I could control—to the best of my ability.
I started spending more time with my family in presence and love.
I started working smarter/harder and enjoying the process of writing my newsletter and building the business.
I started focusing on myself to become the kind of person who would attract the right partner.
The more I focused on what was within my control, the less power uncertainty had over me.
The Science Behind It
There’s a simple truth about life: You have more control than you think.
We tend to believe that life just happens to us.
We think that fate, circumstances, or luck determine our path.
But in reality, our choices shape our outcomes far more than we realize.
At any given moment, we have two options:
Resist uncertainty and waste energy on what’s out of our hands.
Focus on what we can control and create our own luck.
A beautiful page from the book “Discover your Destiny” by Robin Sharma
Studies show that people who focus on what they can control experience:
1. Less stress
2. More confidence
3. Greater resilience
Once you’ve done your absolute best, let go and trust that whatever comes next is part of your growth.
That’s where true certainty comes from.
It’s not about controlling everything, but from knowing that you’ve done your best (yes, this means you still need to focus on the things that you can control!).
Framework/Principle
Quote from the Bhagavad Gita: “You have a right to perform your prescribed duties (your actions), but you are not entitled to the fruits of your actions (results of your actions)”.
Although you can’t control everything, you can control some things.
The more you focus on the things you're able to control, the more beautiful life becomes.
That’s when you start to let go of the attachment to control the things outside the circle.
And your mind starts to get more focused on everything that you are able to control.
Let’s face it, even this process can be overwhelming.
It’s not easy to improve in every area of your life overnight. Even if you can control the things that you know you need to.
But small steps daily (more on this in the next newsletter) can lead to much more fulfillment over time.
When you focus on your inside circle, beautiful things start happening.
You don’t stress out about (or even focus on) events/things that are outside your control.
You begin to attract others who are also focused on their inside circle.
You stop chasing outcomes and begin to love the process itself.
You release attachment and identity to superficial things.
You begin to feel more present and every moment becomes more beautiful.
The key is to let go of what it is you can't control and focus on bettering what you can.
Real World Example
During World War II, Viktor Frankl, an Austrian psychiatrist, was sent to a concentration camp.
He lost his family, endured brutal conditions, and lived in complete uncertainty.
He didn't even know if he’d survive another day.
But in the middle of unimaginable suffering, he realized something profound:
Even when everything is taken from you, there is one thing no one can control—your mind.
He saw that those who focused on what little they could control—how they thought, how they reacted, how they found meaning—were the ones who survived.
He later wrote in his book, Man’s Search for Meaning
“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances.”
We are creatures of certainty.
We want to know and make sure things go our way.
Unfortunately, that's not always the case.
Something might happen out of your control.
But Frankl has shown that, with your mind, you still have the ability to control it.
That is one controllable you always have with you.
As the Buddha once explained, “In life, we can't always control the first arrow. However, the second arrow is our reaction to the first. The second arrow is optional.”
You can’t always avoid the first arrow. Pain affects everyone.
But you can avoid the second one. Suffering is what you choose to go through.
Anxiety begins when you try to control things outside of your control.
Peace comes from focusing on what's within your control.
Reflection
Think about your biggest stressor right now.
Ask yourself:
Is this something I fully control, influence, or is it out of my hands?
If I can control it, what’s one action I can take today?
If I can’t, how can I let go and shift my energy elsewhere?
The more you focus on what’s yours, the more clarity you gain.
Certainty isn’t about controlling everything.
It’s about controlling the right things.
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