The Messy Middle: Finding Your Way Through the Hardest and Most Crucial Part of Any Bold Venture

So if a certain activity really matters to you—a creative project, say, though it could just as easily be nurturing a relationship, or activism in the service of some cause—the only way to be sure it will happen is to do some of it today, no matter how little, and no matter how many other genuinely big rocks may be begging for your attention. After

Playing the long game requires moves that don’t map to traditional measures of productivity.

The key question is: What is your No. 1 priority? The secret to staying on track is revisiting that question periodically to check in with yourself and recalibrate your own expectations as needed—your No. 1 priority might not be what you think it is. It might not be just finishing your goal, but selling your creation so you’re making a living.

The volatility of this tug-of-war is hard to stomach. You must pay less attention to the day-to-day incremental advances and more on achieving an overall positive slope. And that’s entirely determined by how you navigate the messy middle.