Readiness isn’t a feeling. It’s a decision.
We talk about being “ready” as if it’s something that happens to us, like a wave that finally reaches us and sweeps us into action. But readiness is just a choice. It’s the courage to say, I’m going to move forward. Or, more often than not, I’m going to move forward even though... [insert all the reasons you think you shouldn’t].
There will always be reasons to stall. Always. At any given moment along the trajectory of our careers, we can make a list of all the reasons we’re not ready for the next step. Sometimes those reasons hold truth and can help us troubleshoot for growth. Usually though, they’re excuses.
Worse, those lists of reasons are like mythic hydras; when we finally feel good enough to cross off a reason and give ourselves permission to move forward, another reason (or a few) jump to take its place. You’ll feel too young one day, too old the next. Too inexperienced, then later, your extensive experience might feel irrelevant. Too busy to start now, too idle to have momentum later. Too visible, too invisible. Too early in the process to be taken seriously, too late in the game to begin.
Twenty years ago I could’ve made quite the list of reasons I had no business launching a start-up. Actually, others made the list for me (literally). In a 2007 blog post, Guy Kawasaki, chief evangelist at Canva, bestselling author, and much else, made one of all the jobs I’d never had pre-Kiva:
“What would the ideal background be of the founder of Kiva? Investment banker from Goldman Sachs? Vice president of the World Bank? Vice president of the Peace Corps? Vice president of the Rockefeller Foundation? Partner at McKinsey? How about temporary administrative assistant at the Stanford Business School? Because that’s how Jessica started her quest.”
Ouch? In the end, Guy celebrated Kiva and my path, urging others to “bank on unproven people.” We joked about this entry last year at Masters of Scale, and I told him I’d forgiven him by now - and thanked him for seeing potential in a story that didn’t fit the mold.
I’ve come to see that list as a kind of compliment and proof that readiness was never about having someone else’s idea of the “right” background. It was about saying yes before the evidence suggested I should.
You rarely have to wait to move forward until after you have a long list of accomplishments or a perfect plan. Ready means setting the list aside and taking a step anyway. You don’t prepare your way into purpose; you act your way into it.
And if you insist on trying to tap into that readiness feeling - catching that wave - my best advice is to redefine it. Teach yourself to associate feeling ready with movement, not with standing still in preparation. Think about the thousands of tiny choices you’re making every day, nudging progress again and again.
You’re ready and already in motion. Maybe the motion is invisible, as your thinking evolves, as the next right question settles in your mind, as observations that once seemed random start to connect and become insights. Maybe the motion is small but meaningful: sending the email, making the phone call, sketching an idea that felt like it didn’t matter, but now that it’s on paper, stares back at you and tells you that it does.
You don’t have to have it all figured out to feel ready, and certainly not to be ready. You just have to keep choosing action: one half step, one brave act, one moment of motion at a time.
You’re ready already. You’re ready now.