bcg blog

Feeling Ready

Admittedly, I’m not a Harry Potter fan. Also admittedly, I’m not not a Harry Potter fan. I’ve never read it - not a big sci-fi, make-believe kind-a-guy but based on the scores of fans I am convinced it’s incredible. As good as the story may be, J.K. Rowling’s account of bringing it to the masses may be even better. 
The idea of a boy wizard named Harry Potter had come to her seven years prior to the initial submission of the manuscript. On a four hour train ride from Manchester to London, Rowling’s imagination ran wild with the tales and adventures which would eventually entertain millions. At the time she was on the verge of depressed from the loss of her mother, alone having just left a failed marriage, and broke on welfare. Not exactly the perfect circumstances for a budding author. 
Years later after finally getting everything down on paper, Rowling went months bouncing back and forth between turning the manuscript into a publisher and hiding it to never be seen again. She never felt ready. How could she? She had never published anything in her life. Unqualified was an understatement. Why would anyone want to read what she had to write?
Fortunately for all the Potterheads out there, Rowling finally decided to submit the manuscript. Not because she felt ready or because she became confident. It’s more simple than that. She submitted it because she made the decision to. Rather than wait to feel ready, she decided to act. What followed was twelve rejections from publishers - twelve! To her credit, once she decided to submit the manuscript she never waivered. Her feelings about readiness had become irrelevant.
Over 600 million copies later, Rowling is now recognized as the first billionaire author. Her readiness came from the doing, not before it.

Why Should We Care?
Waiting to feel ready is one of the most clever forms of self-sabotage we practice. We tell ourselves we're being responsible, strategic, and wise. That we don't want to act prematurely. But what we're actually doing is confusing readiness as a state of preparation and readiness as a state of emotion. You can be prepared without feeling ready. And, you can act without feeling ready.
Readiness is not discovered. It's decided. Being more qualified, more confident, or in a different circumstance doesn’t do it. The willingness to make readiness a choice rather than a feeling is precisely what separates people who have goals from those who actually achieve them. Too many people are waiting for a cosmic experience that will all the sudden make them feel ‘ready’. 
In leadership, if you feel ready it’s not that big of a decision. The biggest decisions you'll ever make will be decisions you don't feel ready for. If you wait until you feel ready for these moments, you'll wait forever, because the feeling of readiness is often the result of taking action, not the prerequisite for it. 

REAL TALK - Action Steps
Deciding to be ready requires intentional practices that separate your feelings from your decisions and help you act before confidence arrives. Here are a few ideas to get started:

• Write It Down 
  
  • Write down one significant action you've been postponing. Now, ask yourself what feeling ready would actually feel like. Be specific. Most people discover they can't actually describe what the feeling of readiness would be. In other words, they’re waiting for a feeling that doesn't exist. Sooooo, just go ahead and act without the feeling.
    

• Start Small
  
  • Choose something relatively low-stakes that you've been avoiding because you don't feel ready. Before you do it, say to yourself “I'm not ready, and I'm doing it anyway." This acknowledges the truth while also establishing that feelings don't determine actions. The task gets done regardless of whether you feel ready. Your feelings didn't determine your actions. Your decision did. 
    

• The Power of Yet
  
  • When you notice yourself thinking you’re not ready, immediately reframe it to a learning opportunity. The difference is significant. "Not ready" suggests you're missing something essential that you need before you can act. "I haven’t done this yet" acknowledges that experience comes through action, not before it. This becomes evidence that readiness follows action more often than it precedes it.
    

This is the pattern that defines every significant achievement. Someone decides to move forward before they feel prepared, and through the movement, they become what they needed to be. 

Checkout Surrender the Outcome on Amazon and order The Score That Matters with Ryan Hawk & Brook Cupps. The latest blog from Blue Collar Grit can be found here!