“I really want to launch my own business, but I just don’t think the time is right.”
“I’d like to go for that next big job, but I just don’t think I’m qualified yet.”
“I want to apply to give that big talk, but I just don’t think I’m ready.”
Psst! Here’s a hard truth for you: the time will never be right, you will never think you are fully qualified, and you will never feel fully ready.
So, what should you do? You should go for it anyway.
Now, of course, there are some real reasons why you might need to wait. Perhaps you really don’t yet have the requisite qualifications — you are finishing your degree, you don’t actually have the specific skills set, you lack the depth of subject matter expertise. Or, perhaps the timing isn’t right — you are about to move across the country or give birth to septuplets. But, more likely, the “I’m not ready” endless loop you play in your head is just a whole lot of self-doubt, telling tales of monsters in the absence of actual facts.
And, the facts, if you looked them squarely in the face, would tell you that you were ready enough. Those monsters, on the other hand, are cranky bastards who lie to you, telling you that you are going to spontaneously combust in an enormous flaming ball of embarrassment in front of everyone with whom you’ve ever made eye contact.
Look, you will never feel entirely ready. There will always be another box to check, another arrow to drop into your quiver. I implore you to take the leap anyway. So, stop with the self-doubt and the pity parties and the nervous navel-gazing, and get going already.
You’re never going to be ready. And yet, you’re more ready than you think.
