The answer lives in this podcast

When is the biggest mistake people make when preparing for a promotion?

August 24, 2026 Ordinary To Badass

← See the Ordinary To Badass podcast page

The biggest mistake happens before you ever apply: most people wait until a job opening is announced — or until they hear a supervisor is about to retire — and only then start preparing. By that point, it is already too late. Preparation needs to begin well in advance, ideally right now, even if a promotion is still years away.

The "I'll start when it opens" trap — and why it costs you the role

The moment a promotion is officially posted, every candidate in the room is scrambling. They are all reaching out to mentors at the same time, enrolling in the same training, and rushing to patch the same gaps. None of that last-minute effort makes you stand out — it just makes you look like everyone else.

Marie Sonneman is explicit on this point in Ordinary To Badass: the candidates who get promoted are the ones who were already prepared before the announcement dropped. They had already built the relationships, acquired the skills, and made themselves visible. The opening was just the moment they raised their hand.

The recommended window is six to twelve months before a promotion is expected to open. In fields like law enforcement — where candidates often cannot even apply until they are five years into the role — that window can and should start on day one.

What "preparing early" actually looks like in practice

Early preparation is not abstract ambition. It means identifying the specific skills the role requires and filling the gaps deliberately — through platforms like LinkedIn Learning, through tools like Microsoft Office, through seeking out mentors before you need them.

This is the core logic behind the Badass Promotion Blueprint, the six-step framework Marie Sonneman walks through in this episode. Three of those six steps are shared directly in the episode and center on building a track record that speaks for itself long before any panel interview.

There is also a meaningful gender dimension here. Research cited in Ordinary To Badass shows that men tend to apply for promotions when they feel roughly 60% ready, while women typically wait until they feel 80–90% ready. Starting preparation earlier helps close that gap — not by lowering standards, but by building genuine readiness sooner.

"If you spend this whole time getting all your ducks in a row and getting ready and talking to mentors and getting this training that you need, that is what makes you the obvious choice for a promotion."

The phrase "obvious choice" is the operative one. The goal of early preparation is not to look better than the competition the week the posting goes live — it is to have already become the candidate everyone expects to be promoted, well before the process even begins. That is a very different kind of readiness, and it is what Sonneman builds toward in the full episode.