Supervisor told me I may not be ready for a postdoc yet - how should I use the remaining PhD time?
I am a PhD student in astrophysics, currently working on my first paper. Today I had one of our regular weekly meetings with my supervisor. Near the end, I asked about future postdocs, when to apply, and how to think about the next step. He said, kindly but honestly, that he does not think I am ready for a postdoc yet. He was not harsh, and I do trust his judgement, but it was still painful to hear. He said that I need to be independent before doing a postdoc. At least he thinks that researchers who will hire a postdoc will look for independence. He thinks that other students who got postdoc positions had that capability whereas I am taking his suggestion/ideas for what to do next.
I want to take the feedback seriously rather than just feel bad about it. For people who have been through this: How did you guys become independent? Did you feel independent before starting your first postdoc? How should I use the remaining time (~14 months) to become a stronger postdoc candidate (I have probably less time because applications will start before I finish my PhD)? I feel like what needs to be done never finishes. Should I separate some time from producing results and doing new analysis into thinking/reading more?
Quick note about me: I am finishing my 3rd year, and I have exactly 1 year and 2 months more until the end of my PhD in September/October 2027. My current paper is my first paper in PhD and it is almost done. Co-authors have already read the manuscript and they shared their comments. I think it will be ready to submit in a week. I have changed a sub-area in astrophysics (from high-energy astrophysics to galaxies), which made me slow down a lot because I needed to learn a lot. I have 5 more published articles (1 first authored) from my 3 years of research before PhD (2 years of MSc plus 1 year of PhD before I won a nice funding and moved to my current PhD).