By: Brian McCloud

We often can't predict large scale shifts or changes. Whether gradual or sudden, change is inevitable and influenced by single persons' to grand events such as pandemics. Career counselors have applied concepts of chaos theory to help individuals navigate such situations. Some exercises recommend by Pryor & Bright (2006) suggest as it relates are:

• Signature Exercise: Write your name multiple times in a given time period. Goals include: a) show that reality is based on self-organization and chance, b) life includes order and randomness, c) patterns and variations can appear at the same time, d) demonstrate the limits of control even over common tasks, e) show differences between emergent and convergent thinking patterns.
• Sometimes Magic Exercise: Think of examples of circumstances where you may have had special experiences. Follow up questions to achieve these following goals: a) recognition of the unexpected in the experiences, b) help explore the newly discovered understanding of your history, c) help you find ways to be more creative.
• Parable of the Ping Pong Ball: Everyday examples that are given to you, or read out loud. Goals of the parable: a) increased complexity leads to decreased ability to predict outcomes, b) even when an accurate prediction is limited, it doesn't mean that the experience can't be explained or understood, c) demonstrate that change is nonlinear, d) to introduce the concept of phase shift, e) show limitations of knowledge and control and the need to make decisions with limited knowledge of influences and outcomes, f) recognize that one will always have to make decisions and face challenges.