Confidence vs Readiness: Why Waiting Holds Us Back

Confidence and readiness often get bundled together as if they’re interchangeable. They’re not. I’ve seen plenty of people brim with confidence while standing on foundations made of very little. I’ve also watched brilliant ideas stall because their creators were waiting for the perfect moment — for the stars to align, the plan to be airtight, the fear to disappear. That moment rarely comes.

Get your skates on

Over the weekend, I was chatting with some friends and one of them shared a genuinely exciting business idea. Smart, thoughtful, with real potential. But you could see the hesitation in their shoulders — that quiet voice saying they weren’t ready yet, that they needed more time, more certainty, more… something. It’s a feeling I recognise in so many people: the idea is there, but the confidence to take the leap hasn’t caught up.

Readiness is a myth

Readiness is a myth we tell ourselves to delay the uncomfortable. Most ideas don’t arrive fully formed or “ready”. They’re messy, fragile, unfinished things. They wobble. They need shaping. They need someone willing to take a step before everything feels certain. Ironically, that’s where confidence should live — not as loud bravado, but as a quiet belief that the first step counts even if the ground isn’t entirely solid.

What breaks my heart is how many ideas die in notebooks, voice memos, and draft folders because their owners felt they weren’t ready. I’ve been there myself — especially with an AuDHD brain that loves to imagine the whole stadium before laying the first brick. But the reality is this: ideas grow when you move. Not before.

Learn as you go

Confidence doesn’t mean you think you can’t fail. It means you’re willing to explore the edges of what you know. It’s choosing action over perfection. It’s trusting that you can learn on the way, iterate in public, and adapt in real time. That’s the kind of confidence I want more people to carry.

And if you’re someone who has an idea but feels underprepared, remember this: your idea isn’t supposed to be ready. But you can build confidence by taking the smallest possible step today. Share it with one person. Sketch the outline. Press publish on the scrappy version. Momentum is confidence in motion.

This is a big part of the work I do — helping people make sense of their ideas, build frameworks around them, and bring them into the world before they fade. If you want help turning a thought into something real, I’m here for that.