The Job You're Waiting to Be Ready For Is the Job That Makes You Ready

You've seen the job posting. You've read the description. And somewhere between the second and third bullet point, you talked yourself out of it.

Not enough experience. Missing one qualification. Haven't led a team that size. Don't know that system yet. The reasons stack up quickly, and they all point to the same conclusion: you're not ready.

Here's what that conclusion misses: almost no one is ready for the job that changes them. That's precisely why it changes them.

Readiness Is a Myth You Keep Waiting For

There's a version of your future self who feels prepared—who has checked every box, closed every gap, and finally earned the right to step forward. You're waiting for that person to show up before you make your move.

But that person doesn't exist yet. They can't. Because the only way they come into being is through the experience you're currently avoiding.

Readiness isn't something you build in isolation and then deploy. It's something that emerges in response to demand. You get ready by doing the thing that requires you to be ready.

The Gap Is the Point

When you look at a role and see a gap between where you are and what it requires, that gap isn't a warning sign. It's the whole reason the opportunity matters.

If you could already do everything the job asks, it wouldn't stretch you. It would be a lateral move dressed up as progress. The gap is where the growth lives.

People who advance aren't the ones who wait until the gap closes. They're the ones who step into the gap while it's still uncomfortable—and let the discomfort reshape them.

Preparation Has Diminishing Returns

There's a point in any preparation process where continued effort stops yielding meaningful progress. You've read the books, taken the courses, practiced the skills in low-stakes environments. And still, you don't feel ready.

That's because the final layer of readiness can only be built in context. It requires real stakes, real feedback, real consequences. No amount of simulation gets you there.

Waiting until you feel ready is often just procrastination wearing a responsible-sounding costume. At some point, more preparation is just delay.

They Hired Potential, Not Perfection

Here's something worth remembering about every job you've ever gotten: they didn't hire you because you were already perfect for the role. They hired you because they believed you could become what the role required.

Hiring is a bet on trajectory. Interviewers are not just assessing your current skills—they're evaluating your capacity to grow, adapt, and figure things out. If they only hired people who were already fully formed, no one would ever get their first management role, their first leadership position, their first shot at something bigger.

The question isn't whether you're ready now. It's whether you're capable of becoming ready—and whether you're willing to do what that requires.

What You're Really Afraid Of

Underneath the "I'm not ready" story is usually something else. Not a skills gap—a fear.

Fear of being exposed. Fear of struggling publicly. Fear of failing in a way that costs you credibility you've spent years building. These are real fears, and they deserve acknowledgment.

But they're not reasons to stay still. They're reasons to move carefully, to build support systems, to give yourself permission to learn out loud. The fear doesn't disqualify you from the opportunity—it just means the opportunity matters.

How to Move Before You're Ready

Moving before you feel ready doesn't mean being reckless. It means being honest about what readiness actually requires—and recognizing that some of it can only happen after you've committed.

Start by reframing the gap. Instead of "I don't know how to do that," try "I haven't learned that yet." The first is a fixed statement. The second acknowledges capacity.

Identify what you can learn before and what you'll have to learn during. Some skills can be front-loaded. Others only emerge under pressure. Know which is which.

Build your support early. Find mentors, peers, or resources you can lean on when you're in over your head. Readiness isn't just internal—it's also about the systems around you.

And finally, commit to the discomfort. The first six months will be hard. That's not a sign you made a mistake. That's the price of expansion.

The Cost of Waiting

Every year you spend waiting to be ready is a year you could have spent becoming ready. The math is simple, even if the emotions aren't.

The people who hold the roles you want didn't wait until they were certain. They applied before they felt qualified. They raised their hand before they had all the answers. They figured it out as they went—and now they have the experience you're waiting to accumulate in theory.

You can keep preparing. Or you can start becoming.

The job you're waiting to be ready for? It's not going to make you ready from a distance. You have to step into it. That's where the readiness lives.