The Best Leaders Start Before They Feel Ready

A few months ago, I was sitting alone in my house with a journal in front of me.

The house was quiet, which is rare now that I have a toddler, and I had intentionally given myself a little space between what had ended and whatever was supposed to come next. I wasn’t taking on new clients yet. I wasn’t launching anything. I was trying, somewhat unsuccessfully, to be still. (Side note: I wrote a blog on the importance of celebrating failure here).

Then I started writing.

What came out of that quiet moment eventually became the READY Framework, a process I now use to help leaders and teams move from chaos to clarity. In many ways, it was simply a way of putting language around something I had been doing intuitively for nearly 15 years.

But in that moment, it didn’t feel like the beginning of a framework, a certification or a new chapter of my business.

It just felt like an idea in my journal.

I think that’s what we often miss about beginnings. We tend to recognize them only after enough time has passed for the story to make sense. While we’re actually living them, they usually feel much less significant.

They feel like an email we’re nervous to send, a conversation we’ve been avoiding, a half-formed idea we can’t fully explain or a decision we keep revisiting because we’re still hoping certainty will arrive and make it easier.

Over the past several years, I’ve learned that starting before you feel ready usually requires two things: trusting the clarity you already have and accepting that confidence may come after the first step, not before it.

Sometimes the Clarity Is Already There

Several years ago, I left an organization where I had worked for eight and a half years.

I loved the mission. I had meaningful relationships there. I knew how to do my job, and I probably could’ve continued doing it for another eight and a half years.

At the same time, I knew I was ready to be challenged in new ways.

That realization started a long season of reflection. I joined a coaching group, looked back at what I had learned, evaluated the opportunities in front of me and started thinking seriously about what I wanted the next chapter of my work to look like.

Eventually, I built a business plan for The Ready Network.

I filed the LLC, created a website and began doing all the practical things you do when you’ve decided to start a company. Then, almost immediately, I was offered an incredible full-time opportunity with another organization.

I remember thinking, Seriously?

I had spent so much time asking for clarity, and then, as soon as I finally moved forward, another opportunity appeared and made the decision feel complicated all over again.

I ultimately accepted the role, and it turned out to be exactly the experience I needed during that season. I was stretched, challenged and invited into rooms that helped me grow. I also continued working with a few clients through The Ready Network, which meant that when I returned to the business full-time four years later, I wasn’t starting completely from scratch.

Looking back, I can see how each chapter prepared me for the next one.

I couldn’t have done the second job without what I learned in the first, and I couldn’t be doing the work I’m doing now without what I learned in both.

I just couldn’t see all of that while I was in it.

That’s what I keep thinking about when I remember how often I wished for clarity. The clarity was usually there. I just didn’t always have the courage to act on it (more on the importance of learning to saying yes before you have all the information.)

We tend to imagine clarity as a complete map. We think we’ll know we have it when we can see the final destination, understand every turn and predict exactly how everything will work out.

In my experience, clarity is rarely that generous.

More often, it looks like one next step that keeps returning to your mind. You know the current situation isn’t sustainable. You know the conversation needs to happen. You know the opportunity is worth exploring. You know you’re being invited to grow, even though you can’t yet explain where that growth will lead.

Clarity doesn’t always mean you have no questions left.

Sometimes it simply means you know enough to move.

Readiness Often Comes Through Action

Recently, I made a list of a few things I had done scared.

I sent an email telling people I was building something new. I started a daily podcast with my brother without a formal plan, professional production or carefully mapped-out strategy. I invited people into the first READY Framework certification before every detail was perfected.

None of those things felt completely ready.

I did them anyway.

We love the phrase “done is better than perfect,” but living that way is much harder than saying it.

Starting before you feel ready means letting people see something while it’s still becoming. You may change the language later. You may improve the process. You may discover that part of your original idea was wrong. You may have to learn in public.

That kind of vulnerability can make waiting feel responsible.

We tell ourselves we need more research, more certainty, a better website, a stronger plan or one more sign that the idea will work. Sometimes those things are necessary. Sometimes they’re fear dressed up as preparation.

My daughter loves The Very Hungry Caterpillar, which was also one of my favorite books when I was a child. Near the end, the caterpillar disappears into the cocoon and eventually emerges as a butterfly.

My daughter is usually ready to move on to another toy by that point, but that’s the part I keep thinking about.

Transformation requires us to leave behind a version of ourselves that has become familiar.

We love the butterfly part. We’re less enthusiastic about the cocoon.

The cocoon is quiet, unclear and easy to misunderstand. From the outside, it may look like nothing is happening at all. There’s no applause for becoming. There’s only the uncomfortable work of no longer being what you were while not yet seeing what you’ll become.

That’s what many new beginnings feel like.

You’re no longer fully attached to the old thing, but the new thing isn’t established enough to hold your full weight yet. You’re somewhere in between, trying to make decisions without the benefit of hindsight.

The only way through that season is to keep moving.

The first email makes the second one easier. The first client teaches you how to serve the next one better. The first conversation gives you language you didn’t have before. The first version reveals what needs to change.

Action creates information that thinking alone never can.

Readiness, then, may not be something you achieve before you begin. It may be something you build because you began.

The Next Step Doesn’t Have to Be Dramatic

Maybe you’re considering a career change, building a new business or nonprofit, or trying to lead an organization that has grown faster than its systems.

Maybe you know something needs to change, but you’re waiting to feel more certain before you address it.

I don’t think every uncomfortable feeling means you should make a dramatic decision. Reflection matters. Wise counsel matters. Planning matters.

But there comes a point when more thinking becomes a substitute for moving.

At that point, the most helpful question may not be, Am I fully ready?

It may be, What do I already know, and what’s the smallest courageous step I can take with that information?

Maybe the next step is sending the email, scheduling the conversation, writing down the idea, asking for help or testing a first version before you’ve figured out the fifth.

You don’t have to see the whole path to move forward.

You only have to be honest about what you already know and willing to take the next step before you feel completely prepared.

What if you’re never fully ready?

What if you become ready by doing?

Need Help Getting Started Before You Feel Ready?

Most of my clients are already successful, capable and deeply committed to the work in front of them. They don’t need someone to hand them a generic formula or tell them to work harder.

Usually, they need space to step out of the day-to-day, get honest about what’s working and what isn’t, and turn everything they’ve been carrying into a clear path forward.

That’s the work we do at The Ready Network.

Through executive coaching, team consulting and strategic planning, we help leaders move from stuck to clear, identify the next right priorities and build an action plan they can actually follow through on.

You don’t have to have every answer before you begin. Sometimes you just need the right person beside you to help you see what’s already there and take the next step.

Ready to move forward? Reach out to our team to book a discovery call.

Hear More of the Conversation

I recently had a conversation about this topic tailored specifically for ministry leaders. We talked about fear, clarity, career transitions and what it looks like to begin again before you feel completely ready.

To hear more, tune into my conversation, Starting Scared: Why You’re More Ready Than You Think, on the Life After Ministry Podcast.