The Readiness is All

Near the end of Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet realizes that “the readiness is all.”

But often, like Hamlet, we are not ready. We draw back, unsure, lacking confidence, not ready for a new challenge, a new chapter in our lives.

Years ago, as a new assistant professor at Santa Clara University, I went to the faculty club for lunch. But when I saw all these distinguished looking professors in their tweed sports coats, I was intimidated. So I turned around and walked over to have lunch at the student union. I had gotten my UCLA Ph.D. and a tenure-track position but my self concept was lagging behind, still in grad school, still back in the past.

Psychologists call this the “impostor syndrome,” which includes feelings that we don’t really deserve our success, that we’re a fraud, that some day we’ll be found out. Surprisingly, it affects many high-achieving men and women, especially when they approach new goals.

Becoming a college professor was a goal that I had dreamed of and worked for years, a goal that seemed far off in the distant future. It took a while for my self-concept to catch up to my new reality, for the inner critic to calm down long enough for me to be fully present in this new chapter of my life.

Now I’ve been a tenured faculty member for decades, a department chair, associate dean, and Faculty Senate president. With each new chapter, there has been a learning curve, a climb up to the next level, confronting self-doubts and learning valuable lessons to be ready to embrace the new challenge. The readiness is all.

How about you? Are you facing a new challenge, a new chapter in your life—anything from a new job, an exciting new project, a new home, new relationship, new stage in your life from graduation to promotion, career change, or retirement? If so, try this simple meditation:

• Close your eyes.
• Take a few deep breaths.
• Now visualize yourself standing before the door to your future.
• See yourself walking up to the door and opening it, moving into your new situation.
• What does this situation look like and how do you feel?
• See yourself meeting the challenge and enjoying your new role
• Breathe in the joy and excitement.
• Embrace this new experience,
• Open to all you will learn,
• Ready for the next step,
• Grateful for the guidance that has brought you here,
• Realizing that “the readiness is all.”

Namaste,

Diane

References

Clance, P. R. & Imes, S. (1978). The imposter phenomenon in high achieving women: Dynamics and therapeutic intervention. Psychotherapy Theory, Research and Practice, 15 (3), 1-8.

Shakespeare, W. (1997) Hamlet, 5.2.160. in The Norton Shakespeare. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt et al. New York, N.Y.: W. W. Norton & Company.