You Will Never Feel Ready to Take the Next Step

One of the lies we tell ourselves when presented with a challenge — an opportunity to stride forward — is that we aren't ready or aren't prepared enough. Well, you never will be.

I remember when I was first starting out in photography I would look at other, more successful photographers and wish I had their confidence. Gradually, I developed my skill-set and was comfortable in my abilities, and opportunities began to crop up. Most of us know exactly what these are like; the first wedding, the first newborn shoot, the first assignment... the list goes on. Firsts are often somewhere between unnerving and terrifying and they immediately shine a bright light on your weaknesses, insecurities, and gaps in knowledge or gear. The gut reaction — for most at least — is that you need that one piece of crucial gear to properly undertake that job, or you need a few more test shoots, or you need to be the second photographer one more time. It's natural self-doubt, and I'd argue it's an important emotion that's often the hallmark of a conscientious person. The problem is, that distant comfort that lies gated behind experience and equipment is a mirage; you will never feel ready.

Progressing in your career, your hobbies — really any facet of life as much as I can tell — will feel like a leap into the abyss, but you have to do it. It's such an uncomfortable thought: to progress and get to where you want to be, you have to do something you don't feel ready to do. I wondered recently how it might have changed my trajectory if someone already doing what I wanted to do were to tell me that they hadn't felt ready any time they took that next step. So, I wanted to write this little ode to not waiting to feel ready, and just throwing yourself in to opportunities as they arise.

I remember turning up at my first wedding, and feeling quite certain I wasn't ready. If another photographer had walked up to me and said they would take over, I'd have probably gone home. I remember the first time I had a shoot with a celebrity, in the shower the morning of the job and being sure that I wouldn't match up to their expectations, nor the publication's, nor my own. I remember going to a huge corporate Christmas party that was so large and lavish that I feel too insignificant to have been tasked with capturing it. Every time I forced myself through that and felt somewhat of a fraud. That is until I delivered the images and was pleased with the results.

The final stage of this self-doubt is thinking that even though you push through it, you're the only person who feels like a fraud. Well, I talk to professional photographers every day, doing all kinds of different work, and I'm yet to meet one who hasn't experienced it every time they've had a shoot that was important. That feeling like you're a child at an adult's party, or Frank Abignale with a camera. The truth is, from the highest earning pros, to the amateurs who want to be pro, we're all full of doubt. The difference between the former and the latter is that the former turn up and get to work, while the latter wait until the time is right, and they feel ready.

Lead image by David Besh on Pexels.