The Ryan Leak Podcast - Stop Waiting To Feel Ready

Episode Date: July 27, 2026

“I’ll start when I’m ready” might be the biggest lie we tell ourselves. I’ll start the business when I’m ready. I’ll have the conversation when I’m ready. I’ll write the book when I���m ready. And then the thing you were preparing for passes you by while you were still getting prepared. Ryan breaks down the difference between preparing and hiding, and why “I’m not ready” is often just a dressed-up version of “I’m scared.”In this episode, Ryan shares his own journey of starting before he felt qualified and explains why confidence isn’t a prerequisite for action. It’s a byproduct of it. The perfect conditions you’re waiting for aren’t coming. But this morning is here. And sometimes the only thing standing between you and the life you want is the willingness to start messy.

What's going on, my friends? Welcome back to the Ryan League podcast, where we love to keep things short and sweet for you each and every week. Today, I want to talk to you about how we need to stop waiting to feel ready. I think we've got to stop waiting to feel ready. Can I tell you one of the biggest lies that we can believe? It's the belief that I'll start when I'm ready. I'll start the business.

when I'm ready. I'll have the conversation when I'm ready. I'll go back to school. When I'm ready, I launched the podcast, when I'm ready. I'll start going to church. When I'm ready, I'll write the book. When I'm ready, I'll apply for the job when I'm ready. I'll make a move when I'm ready.

And you want to know what happens is you wait and you wait and then you wait some more. And then life begins to happen. And guess what, the longer you wait, the more excuses you will get for why you aren't ready. And then the thing you were preparing for passes you by while you were still waiting to get ready. I think readiness is a myth. I'm not saying that preparation,

doesn't matter, it does, but there's a difference between preparing and hiding. In fact, I think a lot of us are using the phrase, I'm not ready, as a socially acceptable way of saying the truth, which is, I'm scared. I remember, fresh out of college, I had a little videography business. And I wanted to be a speaker, but I don't know. I wasn't ready. I didn't have the experience. I didn't have the resume. I didn't have a speaker reel.

I just had a feeling in my gut that I could like do that, do this. I also had a willingness to try. Like that's it. And if I had waited until I felt ready, I don't know that I would have ever made the jump. It's interesting, when I think about readiness, I don't think it shows up before the action. I think it shows up during the action.

Like you don't feel ready and then start. You start and then you feel ready. Like confidence is not a prerequisite for action. It's a byproduct of it. Can I tell you a little secret? You just have to promise not to tell anybody, okay? Like, please don't, don't put this on Instagram, Twitter, threads, LinkedIn, whatever social media platform you use these days. Please don't Snapchat me right now.

Like, don't, please don't tell anybody this, okay? as a New York Times best-selling author that gets to speak in front of thousands of people and has an opportunity and blessed to be able to impact a lot of people. I have a confession. I'm still not ready. Yeah, I'm still not ready. And I'm getting ready to turn 40.

And I still don't know. what I want to do when I grow up. I mean, I've got another book coming out. People are like, how's it going? I'm like, it's going all right. But, I mean, it's not like I feel ready. Like, are you ready for the campaign? Not, no, not really.

I'm actually in the middle of processing what it means to start a golf mastermind where I invite people to Dallas where I live and get to go deep with a small group of people. and help them grow at exponential ways. And if I'm honest, I'm excited, but I'm also most definitely not ready. I have more golf shoes than I do rounds of golf that I've actually played in my entire life because I have a golf problem. And, well, I don't know that I have a golf problem.

I have a shoe problem. and now it's a golf problem and then we put those together I end up with more golf shoes than golf game nevertheless here comes a golf mastermind like

there's just so much that me and my team are just willing to try and we're like not ready because I have to find out what I'm capable of I got to find out whose life could be different

because I decided to be uncomfortable like just think about the first time you did anything, your first day at a new job, your first date, your first time speaking in front of a group, were you ready? No, but were you nervous? Absolutely. Did you survive? Well, you're listening to this, so I'm guessing you live through it. Like the people you admire, the ones who seem so confident and polished, they didn't start that way. They started shaky. They started uncertain. They started before they felt. ready and the act of starting is what made them ready over time.

I've just met so many people who've been about to start for years, about to launch the business, about to make a career change, about to write a book, about to put together the pitch, about to rewrite their job description and present it to their boss. And what's interesting is the gap between about to and doing it isn't information. It's not resources. It's not timing. It's just courage. Plain and simple.

It's just courage. So let me ask you something. What have you been waiting to feel ready for? And what would happen if you just started anyways, not. perfectly, not with the full plan, not with every answer, but you just start it. Because here's the truth, the perfect conditions you're waiting for. They're not coming. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I don't know anybody with perfect conditions. I don't know that the stars are going to align. Your schedule is never going to magically open

up, you're never going to wake up one morning and say, today I feel 100% ready to change my entire life. That morning doesn't exist. But this morning does. And this morning, you can take one step, one imperfect, one uncomfortable, slightly terrifying step toward the thing you've been dreaming about. And I've just decided,

that I'd rather be someone who started messy than someone who never started at all. And I think you would too. So stop waiting to feel ready and start now. Get good later. Your future self will thank you for the courage you showed today. My friends, thank you so much for listening to the Ryan Lake podcast. ask if today's episode had a value to your life, I would ask that you would share with a friend,

and hey, it would mean the world to me. If you would take a moment to rate review and subscribe, your support helps us reach even more people with these short and sweet nuggets of inspiration. Thanks for being a part of the journey, and we'll catch you next time.