Asked my manager point blank when I'd be ready for promotion and the answer was more useful than a year of guessing

Spent way too long trying to read tea leaves from performance reviews and vague praise in 1:1s, guessing at what "ready" even meant. Finally just asked directly in a 1:1: what specifically needs to be true for me to get promoted next cycle. Got three concrete things back, one of which I wouldn't have guessed in a hundred years. Wish I'd asked a year earlier instead of assuming the question would come across as pushy.