Are You “Too Soon” for Legitimacy?

How can you tell when you’re ready? I mean, specifically when does the transition from “too soon” to”ready” happen?

I remember as a freshman in high school a newspaper article I was featured in was pinned to the bulletin board by the administration. It featured a quote that when asked about my goals, I said something to the effect of, “I may want to play in college depending on my draft status out of high school.” 

I was literally at my locker down the hall from the bulletin board where I could watch a senior on the baseball team obviously running to the board to read the (ridiculous) article he’d heard about. He couldn’t contain his laughter.

I’d argue it’s a fact that when I declared these goals it was clearly “too soon” for me to make such claims. 

I, again, reflected in a more recent season of my life when I was thrust into a role that to some appears to be an advice-giver to gym owners. This role started when a gym owner encouraged me to teach a workshop in Europe about my ideas in the industry. Since I wasn’t even thirty years old and hadn’t been in the business that long, I can also say this was “too soon” to claim expertise in the area. This course later turned into the Hold the Standard Summit which has now been taught around the world. 

The truth is the arrival into legitimacy is a paradox. 

I find that wherever you’re headed with your goals, you’re going to experience a sliding spectrum of development with no real inflection point to denote arrival. Once you’ve “arrived,” however, you’ll likely attribute being willing to be “too early” at some point as a key to your success.