The Best Plans Don't Always Belong to You
I still remember the conversation.
My wife had been offered an opportunity to move to Hong Kong.
It was exciting.
It was unexpected.
And if I'm honest, it also made me uncomfortable.
For most of my career, I had been the one whose work dictated where we lived. Promotions, international assignments, new challenges—they had shaped our family's journey.
This time was different.
The opportunity wasn't mine.
It was hers.
We had a choice to make.
Stay where life felt predictable.
Or embrace uncertainty together.
Looking back, I realise the decision wasn't really about Hong Kong.
It was about identity.
Who was I if I wasn't the one leading the move?
What would happen to my own career?
Would we regret leaving behind the familiar?
Like many people facing change, I wanted certainty before making the decision.
I wanted to know that everything would work out.
Of course, life doesn't offer those guarantees.
So instead of trying to predict every outcome, we started having conversations.
Real conversations.
Not about logistics.
About hopes.
About fears.
About what we wanted our family life to look like a few years from then.
Those conversations changed everything.
They didn't remove the uncertainty.
But they made it easier to move through it together.
Hong Kong became one of the most rewarding chapters of our lives.
Not because everything went according to plan.
Far from it.
There were challenges.
Moments of doubt.
New cultures to understand.
New friendships to build.
New ways of working.
But every one of those experiences stretched us in ways we could never have anticipated.
It's only when I look back now that I realise something.
The biggest opportunities in my life have rarely arrived wrapped in certainty.
They've arrived disguised as uncertainty.
I've seen the same pattern in coaching conversations.
People often come looking for clarity before they're willing to move.
But clarity rarely comes first.
More often, clarity follows the first courageous step.
Waiting until everything feels certain can keep us standing still for a very long time.
Today, when I find myself facing something unfamiliar, I try to ask a different question.
Not,
"How can I be sure this is the right decision?"
But,
"Who might I become if I choose to step into this?"
I've found that question creates far more possibilities.
Perhaps you're standing at a crossroads today.
A career decision.
A personal transition.
A conversation you've been postponing.
Maybe you're waiting for certainty before taking the next step.
What if uncertainty isn't standing in your way...
What if it's quietly inviting you to grow?
