Five minutes with Bob · Posted by Bob · August 19, 2026

Excited about the prospect. Nervous about the outcome.

This morning, I want to tell you about Christine. I noticed something different about her at work yesterday. She had what I would call a cautious smile. The smile that says, I am very happy about something… but I am also slightly nervous. When my curiosity finally got the better of me, I asked her if she wanted to grab a coffee. That was when she told me she was pregnant. Her face lit up. “I’m going to bring a human into this world!” And then, almost in the same breath: “Bob… how will I do as a mother?” I remember that moment because those two sentences were so human. Yay and the what if? Both at once. And perhaps that is more common than we realize. We have this feeling when we start a new job or we move to a new city or decide to have child. We are excited about what could happen. And nervous about what might happen. The strange thing is, we rarely talk about how beautiful that combination can be. Because underneath both feelings is the same thing: We don't know. And that's the deal we made as humans, we don't get a preview of the next chapter. It changed the way I look at uncertainty. Instead of asking myself, “How do I make sure this works?” I try to ask: “How do I want to approach this?” That distinction has helped me enormously. I can't control the outcome. But I can decide to be mindful. And, importantly, whether I will allow myself to enjoy the good parts while they are happening. Because sometimes we become so busy worrying about the outcome that we forget to experience the moment we were brave enough to enter. I like to put a little concept note in my head before I begin something important. What matters to me? What kind of person do I want to be while I am doing this? If something works, I enjoy it. If something doesn't, I learn. And if I discover that I was wrong about something, I try not to treat that as a verdict on myself. However, if life surprises me by giving something much better than what I had planned. I get thrilled. Are you excited about something at this time, and would you do it differently if you stopped needing to know how it will end? Until tomorrow, Bob.