Does Anyone Ever Feel Ready?

I’m genuinely curious.  Does anyone ever feel ready?

What does ready feel like?

Is it a sense of calm that you are confident you can handle whatever is about to come your way?  Or is it the adrenaline charge you feel before going on stage or stepping up to compete?

How about both?  Or to you is it something else entirely?

Game of Thrones

I finished watching Game of Thrones this weekend and (no spoilers) there are several battles during the series.  Battles fought by men with swords and axes and spears and knives.  Close up fighting where you could smell the breath of the men seeking to kill you.  This is how battles were fought in the middle ages.  In your face, up your nostrils, very few prisoners.

The cinematography showed these men (and occasionally women) lined up each time, waiting for the battle to start.  When there were knights, their horses would stand patiently waiting, before being given the order to charge.  From still formations, they would all surge forwards into the most terrifying melee. I couldn’t help but wonder, historically, how they prepared themselves when those battles were real.  Did they feel ready?  Or do we just question everything more now?

Entrepreneurs – Quality vs Quantity

As entrepreneurs, we are constantly seeking a balance between the need to put offers out to people and the need for those offers to be good.  If we put out no offers, we cannot make any sales, and if we have no sales do we have a business?  At the same time, if we put offers out and they’re not great value, don’t meet our clients’ expectations and do nothing for our credibility, will we be in business for long?  That is a very real sticking point for a lot of entrepreneurs.

Some people do the work, build and nurture their audience, create the great offer their audience wants and then they stall.  They hesitate because they don’t feel ready.

It might be that they don’t feel ready for the potential success of their offer.  We’ve all heard of businesses who grew incredibly quickly and then lost their way.   It might be that they don’t feel ready for the potential of a crushing anticlimax if their launch is a damp squib.

Failure is a First Attempt in Learning opportunity.  We learn more from what doesn’t go to plan than from anything that goes smoothly.

There Is Only Now

My favourite quote about readiness is this one from Hugh Laurie:

“It’s a terrible thing, I think, in life to wait until you’re ready. I have this feeling now that actually no one is ever ready to do anything. There is almost no such thing as ready. There is only now.” 

I sent my manuscript off to my publisher today.

It followed finding acceptance around the fact that I may never feel like it’s finished.  I may never feel like I’m ready for my book to go out in the world.  So I attached it to an email and pressed send.

There is only now.  Let’s use it.

Xx

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