It takes a long time to be ready on day one.
Teachers perform extensive training before their first day of teaching – college, accreditation, internship – but Day One of Year Fifteen finds you feeling much more ready.
Basic Training is meant to prepare soldiers, but my guess is most would say they were far more ready for Day One of a second deployment than a first.
Even a president, with all the preparation leading up to Inauguration Day, will be much more ready for the second Day One than the first.
Can you be ready on Day One? Of course. On Day One of a familiar job in a new place, you hit the ground running. But even then, the new place will bring new wrinkles and new challenges that you can’t predict.
The truth is that if someone asks you what you’d bring to a position on Day One, the best answer you can give is, “I’ll bring curiosity, diligence, and careful observation, so that I’ll be even better prepared for Day Two.”
The best thing about Day One is what you can learn that day.