Your Next Clear Move
Welcome to Your Next Clear Move™—the podcast for leaders, professionals, and high-capacity humans who are done “getting ready” and ready to move.
I’m Debbie Peterson, Leadership Readiness Expert, and in each episode I deliver grounded insight, clarity-driven mindset strategies, and one actionable step to help you stop the drift and lead yourself forward.
This isn’t about fixing what’s broken. It’s about reconnecting to what matters—and making decisions that align with who you are and how you want to lead next.
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Your Next Clear Move
You Were Ready Before They Told You You Weren’t
What if everything you've been told about "getting ready" for leadership opportunities is actually holding you back? This thought-provoking episode challenges the fundamental notion of readiness and reveals how many of us have been ready long before someone else told us we weren't.
I share a pivotal moment from my own corporate career when I felt that internal hum saying "you're ready," only to have others dismiss my readiness with a polite brush-off. The mistake I made? Trusting their assessment more than my own inner knowing. This experience—one many leaders face—reveals how readiness isn't something bestowed upon us after training or titles. It's a state of mind we already possess.
Through the lens of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), we explore how limiting beliefs create internal barriers that sound like "I'm not qualified enough" or "Who am I to lead?" These thoughts typically stem from past experiences or others' opinions we've internalized without questioning. Once settled, they shape our mindset and drive everything—keeping us playing small and "getting ready to get ready" in an exhausting cycle. The truth? Readiness doesn't mean having all the answers. It means believing you'll figure it out when the time comes and being willing to learn what you don't yet know.
Ready for your next clear move? Reflect on a moment where you were ready but didn't feel like it. Consider what would have changed if you'd trusted yourself earlier. Write down one belief about why you're not ready for something now and ask whose voice that really is. Then replace it with a belief that supports forward movement and take one small action. Because remember—no one will ever give you what you won't claim for yourself. You were ready all along. Let's reconnect with how we really want to lead.
Hey, hello and welcome back. I am Debbie Peterson of Getting to Clarity, and this is your next clear move. This is the podcast by Getting to Clarity, and today we are talking about what, if you were ready before they told you you weren't Consider. Consider that and I'll be right back.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the Getting to Clarity podcast.
Speaker 3:The place where busy leaders discover how to create more success in their leadership journey with less sacrifice in their life.
Speaker 2:Here's your host, debbie Peterson, of Getting to Clarity.
Speaker 1:All right, let's ponder that question. You were ready before they told you you weren't. Getting to Clarity. All right, let's ponder that question. You were ready before they told you you weren't. You know, I used to think that readiness for a role, for a project, for a title, for a promotion was something that you earned. You know, it was after the title. You were ready. After the training. You were ready After the training. You were ready After someone else said okay, yes, now you're ready. But here's what I wish somebody would have told me a long time ago is that readiness isn't handed to you. It's not a status, it is a state of mind, and most of us were ready long before we were told that we weren't. And a lot of us spend so much time getting ready. We get ready to get ready. It can be exhausting, but I want to tell you that you are ready Now.
Speaker 1:At one point in my corporate career I felt it, that internal sort of hum that said you're ready, ask for more. And I did. And I walked into a room and I asked for that next step and what I got on the head was a pat pat. You know, it was the polite. Brush off the subtle. Not yet, and because I trusted them. I trusted the people that I asked. I trusted the people that I were working for. I trusted their response more than I trusted my own inner knowing, and that was sad. It was something I took in as truth. I swallowed it whole and I told myself the story that I wasn't ready. Oh my gosh, I don't know how far it set me back, because that was absolutely the worst thing that I could have done, because readiness doesn't live outside of you. It's not about having all the answers. It's about believing that you will figure it out when the time comes. It's about being willing to go, find what you don't yet know and that right there is gold. That willingness is huge, because that's what most people aren't willing to do. So here's what I've learned through the lens of NLP and, if you don't know, I have studied NLP for well decades.
Speaker 1:By this point, nlp stands for neuro-linguistic programming, and neuro is the mind. Linguistic is our habits. So in my world, it's the language of the mind that governs our outcomes. You know, are we setting ourselves up for success or are we sabotaging ourselves without even realizing it? So it's the patterns of our thinking that allow us to get somewhere or not.
Speaker 1:So one of the things that I studied in NLP were limiting beliefs, and limiting beliefs are patterns of thoughts that act as barriers. They're internal obstacles, and here's what they sound like. Well, I'm not qualified enough. Or who am I to lead? You know, I don't have the title, I don't have the people, but leadership isn't always a title.
Speaker 1:There are a lot of people probably people that you know, or maybe even you that lead without the title, and what happens is that these barriers usually stem from a past experience, like something happened and it stung. It was someone else's opinion that we took on, that we accepted as truth and we didn't even bother to question it. And the thing is that once they settle in, they shape how we see ourselves and our belief and what we're capable of. So these are powerful, and the thing is that mindset drives everything. So these are the lies that we tell ourselves so often that we actually stop questioning them. They come from moments like mine you know, when you did something and then you got an unexpected result that hurt. You know moments when we let someone else's assessment outweigh our own belief. And once they settle in, they shape our mindset, and mindset drives everything right.
Speaker 1:So if I had kept listening to that story you're not ready I would have stayed small. I would have played it safe. Because that's exactly what I was doing chasing it, thinking that I had to get ready. I was ready and that decision changed. It led me to build a business to serve leaders who need to cut through the noise and to really focus on what matters, because right now, they're doubting themselves too.
Speaker 1:I want to speak truth into rooms that are often filled with posturing instead of permission, so I want to give you permission. You know, I said yes in the past before I felt ready truly ready more times than I can count, and every time I found my footing, and you can too. And let me be clear it's not because I knew all the steps, but because I trusted that I would figure it out, because I had people around me who could guide me, because I believed that readiness is remembered. We remember that we are ready and it's not earned. So here's what I want you to know no one will ever give you what you won't claim for yourself.
Speaker 1:And readiness doesn't mean that you're going to do something stupid or that you're fearless. It just means that you care enough to try, even when you're unsure. It means that you believe there is something in you worth listening to, and I want you to see that in you. I see that in you, even if you haven't spoken it out loud yet. Believe that that is in there and you don't need to get ready, you already are.
Speaker 1:So when organizations don't create space for that kind of self-trust, they lose capable people, capable leaders, the people who could be next to burnout, to boredom, to bore out, which was a term that I loved hearing. They're not challenging them or just to silence. You know, I see it happen all the time, not because those leaders weren't ready, but because no one told them that they already were, because sometimes you have to borrow someone else's belief. So here's your next clear move I want you to think back to a moment where you were ready, but you didn't feel like it. And now I want you to consider in hindsight which is a gift what would have changed if you trusted yourself a little earlier.
Speaker 1:So now try this One belief Write it down that you hold about why you're not ready for something right now. What is something out in front of you that you're just like oh boy, I'm not sure about this, and then I want you to ask yourself whose voice is that? Is that yours? Is it someone else's voice from the past? Maybe a coworker, a boss, someone in your family? And then I want you to consider replacing it with another belief that supports forward movement. So, instead of I'm not ready, replace it with I am open to figuring it out, because, let's you know, be truthful with ourselves. How many things have you figured out already? Whether it's in work or in life, we're resilient, but we have to believe that. And then next, just take one itty-bitty, teeny-tiny action based on that new belief.
Speaker 1:So, if your definition of readiness has been shaped by someone else's timeline, similar to my story, maybe it's time to rewrite it. Instead of, you know, perpetuating their story, perpetuate your own. Start by remembering who you were before you were told to wait, and if you are listening, whether this is for you or this is for your team. If you want support in helping your leaders claim that readiness before they burn out, stress out or walk out the door, then let's talk. I have the Readiness Reset Keynote and also Readiness Labs that are built for moments like this, and they're not just development, they're about a reconnection to how we really want to lead. So until the next time, remember you are ready and bye-bye for now.
Speaker 2:Thank you for listening to this episode of the Getting to Clarity Podcast with Debbie Peterson.
Speaker 3:Thank you for listening to this episode of the Getting to Clarity podcast with Debbie Peterson.
Speaker 2:If you, enjoyed this show. Please rate and recommend it on iTunes or wherever you enjoy your podcasts. To learn more about how you can bring Debbie and her transformational clarity leadership strategies to your organization, visit DebbiePetersonSpeakscom.
