You’re More Ready Than You Think

Several years ago I made a significant career change. I had been planning and working hard to acquire all of the credentials needed for the new job. I was qualified, excited, happy.

But here’s what I didn’t expect: Even positive change can lend itself to survival mode when anxiety, fear, and new routines settle in. Trying to create new habits overnight, being scared of disappointing the one who hired me, wondering if I really knew what I was doing, trying to 'walk the walk' with confidence.....it was exhausting.

But the lesson I'm sharing with you today resulted from one assignment. One day my boss asked me to provide an assessment for something that I had never done before in my life. Not only had I never done it before, I had never even seen one before. While I appreciated his faith in my abilities, inside I was horrified.

However, I knew what questions to ask. I turned to the internet. I knew what the numbers meant, I just didn't know how to calculate them. Easy to find. I knew that I needed to present them in a professional document. Easy to find examples. With each search, I began to fully understand what this 'unknown' to me looked like to the people who knew. Within a few hours, I had everything I needed and a first draft.

The reason I’m telling you this is because so often when change happens at work, we tend to focus so much on the fact that we’re new to the role. But we don’t give ourselves near enough credit for everything we’ve done successfully prior to this point. 

You don't have to know everything. Your value comes from knowing how to apply what you do know to new situations. 

The transferable skills blindspot

When you enter a new position, your brain is on high alert for what you don’t know. That’s normal. But if you only focus on that, you’ll start to discount all the:

✨ Relationship skills you’ve built

✨ Process knowledge you’ve accumulated

✨ Crisis situations you’ve navigated

✨ Intuition you’ve developed from experience

These aren’t “soft skills”.  They’re pure gold.

Sometimes your real power isn’t that you know how to do something from scratch. It’s that you know how to figure things out because you’ve done it a hundred times before in other roles.

POC Reset – Orient to What You Already Bring

Let’s apply the Pause, Orient, Choose (POC) framework:

• Pause: Notice the feelings of “I don’t know enough,” “I’m not ready,” or “They made a mistake putting me here.”

• Orient: Ask yourself:

  • What do I already know?

  • What have I navigated before that’s similar?

  • What perspective do I bring that someone brand-new wouldn’t have?

• Choose: Choose to lead from grounded experience and wisdom, not insecurity.

  • Speak up when you do know.

  • Ask questions without shame when you don’t.

  • Support others because mentorship is not about perfection, it’s about presence.

When drowning in self-doubt, ask yourself this one question:

Where have I forgotten to give myself credit lately?

The Bottom Line

Each day brings with it new challenges and new situations that we may not have specifically faced with before. But don't let the learning curve scare you. Because the truth is, you've climbed higher mountains. This one may be different, but if you rely on your experience and knowledge, you'll conquer this one too!

📌 One More Thought Before You Go…

Did I meet or exceed my boss’ expectations on that brand new assignment? You bet I did. He was impressed with the accuracy and professional document I provided, which was ready to go to his boss with no further work required from him. Mission accomplished!

New roles and expectations are scary, no doubt. 

But you got this! Just like you have a thousand times before.