The Readiness Trap

You're not procrastinating. You're preparing. There's always one more thing to learn, one more skill to sharpen, one more piece that needs to be in place before you can start. You tell yourself you're being responsible. Strategic. Smart. But the finish line keeps moving. Every time you get close to "ready," the definition changes. New requirements appear. The gap never closes. The truth you're hinding from yourself is you're not preparing to begin. You're protecting yourself from beginning. Because starting means risking failure. And as long as you're still getting ready, you haven't failed yet you just haven't started. So you stay in the warmup forever. Researching. Planning. Organizing. Feeling productive while producing nothing. The cruel part? You're not lazy. You're terrified. And the preparation that feels like progress is the exact thing keeping you stuck. Ready never comes. It's built that way.