Wise up

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If you’re feeling stuck right now, or you can’t seem to begin a project, I want you to try something.

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I want you to start in the middle.

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Whatever that means for you.

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Start there.
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Maybe you want to write a book, but you don’t know what the opening should be. Start in the middle. Write a free-floating point, a random passage. Type your way forward and type your way back.
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Maybe you want to get in shape, but you don’t have a fitness routine. You guessed it — get friendly with the middle. Just start moving. A shaky half push-up. An awkward jog. Feel your way little by little into the practice you want to have.
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Maybe you want to start a side hustle, but you haven’t created your product yet. Let me introduce you to your new best friend, the middle. Create the worst possible version of the product. Talk to a potential customer and figure out what they need. Choose your website template. The company will grow around these efforts.
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It doesn’t matter where you begin.

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It doesn’t matter how you begin.

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All that matters is that you begin.
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There are so many ways to psych yourself out, to avoid chasing your goals. The most tempting one is needing to know exactly where to start.​
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What most people see as a “beginning” is always a carefully constructed entry point for the consumer based on months and months of messy work.
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That brilliant opening chapter of a book you love? I can almost guarantee you that the author didn’t start writing there. And I promise you that opening was rewritten at least 50 times.
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That company you love interacting with? It wasn’t a well-oiled machine from the jump. Whoever created it built it piece by imperfect piece, until they finally arrived at that awesome UI and sales funnel that effortlessly pulled you in.

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We all begin somewhere. And it’s rarely at the beginning.
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But to begin in the middle will demand something from you.

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You have to be willing to tolerate confusion.
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You have to be willing to confront your embarrassment.
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Most of all, you have to be willing to trust — to trust yourself, and to trust the process.
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For some people, these feelings are simply too unpleasant to start chipping away at a project. They’d rather be frustrated than confused. They’d rather be unfulfilled than vulnerable.

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But we can always choose to lean into that discomfort in order to make progress. We can decide which experience matters more.

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So if you’re stuck, or you can’t seem to get started, dive into the middle.

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Doesn’t matter if it’s the actual middle, the possible end, or what ends up being the beginning.
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Hell, it might not even end up in your final product.

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All that matters is that you find a foothold, and keep putting one foot in front of the other.

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And if you’re interested in digging deeper into this idea…​
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Check out my interview with Greg McKeown, author of Effortless: Make It Easier to Do What Matters Most. In that episode, Greg talked about how the disciplined pursuit of “less” keeps you from getting overwhelmed, and how creating an awful “zero draft” is the best cure for procrastination — both of which are clever versions of starting in the middle.
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Have you found this principle to be true in your world? Struggling to make use of it?

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Hit reply and tell me about it. I’m all ears!

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On the show this past week

​1160: Tegan Broadwater | How a White Cop Infiltrated the Crips Part One​

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​1161: Tegan Broadwater | How a White Cop Infiltrated the Crips Part Two​

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​1162: Calculating Courtesan Craves Close Connection | Feedback Friday​

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