How do I know I'm ready?
Ever wonder if you’re ready to make a decision?
Recently, I invested in a business coach-consultant. It’s a significant investment in terms of my energy, focus, time, not to mention money.
How did I know I was ready to make the decision and invest?
Here are a few things I took into consideration when making this investment — in addition to the regular ‘am I and my business at the right stage and the right fit for this particular person and service’ stuff.
What does ‘ready enough’ feel like?
The first thing I will say is that I was comfortable with the fact I didn’t need to be 100% ready.
I don’t know if you’ve come across this idea before, but sometimes we can give ourselves a threshold: a feeling of “What would be ready enough?”
What does that feel like for you?
Can you remember a time in the past when you’ve made a decision and you didn’t know what was going to happen, but you felt ready enough? What did that trusting feel like?
What is the feeling you’re bringing to this decision?
In the past, I’ve made business investments in a state of ‘hyped up’ energy. I’ve been hyped up by the marketing, and I have hyped myself into the investment.
Would I recommend doing this? Probably not.
It’s not to say that the product I invested in was wrong, but I now know they weren’t always the best investments I could have made, and I could have put that money and energy elsewhere.
What I like to think I have learned is that there’s a difference between investing in something from the place of “I am ready to do this and it feels like something I would benefit from” vs.“…I really hope this solves all my problems.”
Don’t invest in something thinking it’s going to solve all your problems! I can promise you it won’t 🙃 And that’s not to say any of us is wrong for doing that — it’s something we might not always even be conscious of — but if you notice yourself going into something with a feeling of “I really hope this works and it’s going to fix everything,” definitely take a moment or two to step back, slow down, and carefully consider why you’re investing or making this decision.
In contrast, I would say if a decision or investment feels something like ‘expansive whilst also relatively rooted or grounded’, that’s usually a good sign. Of course, it doesn’t guarantee success or a good return on investment, but what I can say is that you’ll probably probably be more invested in the process and more likely to sustain the effort and attention required.
Choosing expansion over comfort or happiness
Another question that can be helpful when we’re unsure about a decision is: Does this enlarge or diminish me?
This question comes from Jungian therapist James Hollis (via Oliver Burkeman), and what I love about this question is that it doesn’t rely on us feeling 100% happy or comfortable about our decision. Something can be expansive, challenging, and not entirely comfortable… and we can still know in our hearts it will likely be of benefit in the long term.
We often have a ‘felt sense’ whether something will be more likely to help us expand and grow, or potentially limit and stifle us. This isn’t to say you should ‘push outside your comfort zone’ for the sake of it, but asking this question can help clarify which direction you may want to go.
Playing with time
Sometimes, being so close to a decision can make it feel pressurised. One thing you can do is play with perspective — time and space — to see if this changes how you feel about your decision.
Take any timeframe, let’s say one year from now. What are your thoughts on the decision you’re about to make? Does anything change from this vantage point?
You could imagine yourself having gone through different scenarios. What do you see when you view yourself through the lens of one year from now? What about five years, or ten?
You can also zoom out in terms of space and your personal perspective. It sounds a bit strange at first, but you could zoom out from your current viewpoint and look at yourself from across the room.
How do you feel about yourself and your current situation if you look at yourself from the angle of someone else? How do you see yourself and your decision from the angle of high up above? If you took a birds eye view and zoomed out high above the Earth… what do you see or feel?
It comes down to trust
Ultimately, when it comes to whether you ‘know’ if you’re ready… the thing that matters is that you trust yourself.
You need to trust yourself enough so you can take the leap. You need to trust that when you leap, you'll be able to deal with what happens on the other side.
Some leaps feel bigger than others, and that’s where you can discern whether you feel enough of ‘the gaps’ have been filled in for you to make the leap or not.
Sometimes it’s a case of finding out more information to fill in the gaps. Sometimes you just can’t have it all — and you have to come back to whether you trust yourself to work with what’s on the other side.
Knowing that you will be okay, whatever happens, and that you trust yourself, will give you the ability to make the most of whatever you do.
In summary:
Pay attention to the energy and intention you make your decision with.
Do you feel like you’re about to expand into this decision, or are you trying to escape something?
Do you sort of hope this thing/decision/investment is going to solve all your problems? If so, take a moment to carefully consider...
We are rarely 100% ready. What does ‘ready enough’ feel like to you?
Finally, you need to trust yourself. Knowing you will be okay, whatever happens, is the place from which you can make decisions that involve risk. (Most of them do!)
Many thanks for being here,
Kathryn
PS. If you want to together this year but aren’t sure if now is the right time, book a call! Let’s talk through your circumstances, what you want, what’s potentially holding you back… all the things a good, deep conversation should unearth, and let’s help you decide what you want to do.
PPS. This is the last week to take advantage of my early-bird offer. (£210 off the full price!) Technically, it finishes end of this month, but if you book a call by the end of this week (you don’t have to have the call booked in for this week, you just need to have made the booking this week) — and we end up deciding to work together, I will honour the early-bird discount and you’ll get £210 (approx. $265 US) off the regular price of £1,200. Check out the whole coaching page here with links to book in a time slot for a call.