Do you want to quit? Throw in the towel? Pack up your tent and go home?

When you’re an entrepreneur, building your business can feel overwhelming. The voices in your head shout:

“This shouldn’t be so hard! You’ll never be successful! What makes you think you can do this?”

If you’re feeling this way, welcome to the “messy middle.”

The messy middle is that place where you’ve invested so much time, energy and money that it’s difficult to turn back. In fact, you don’t really want to turn back because you’re on the journey to realizing your dream. 
And yet, you haven’t gotten to the place where your effort is paying off.  Where you can declare success.

You’re stuck in the “messy middle.”

Think about it for a minute. How much time do you spend in the messy middle? How much time do you spend uncertain if what you’re doing will pay off financially or in terms of happiness or satisfaction?

For me, it’s a lot. In fact, I would say that I spend the majority of my time in this place.  

Yes, things get accomplished, goals get achieved, projects get completed. But the uncertainty – the restlessness – is still there. We don’t like uncertainty. It’s in our DNA to be on guard when we don’t know what’s going to happen.

But what if we changed the way we think about the messy middle?

Ask yourself: “Who do I want to be when I’m in the messy middle?” Your success and satisfaction could be impacted by the answer.

There are two ways we can show up in the messy middle. We can show up believing that life just happens to us. Or we can show up believing that we can create the life we choose.
When we believe that life just happens to us, we think in extremes. The situation we find ourselves in is either perfect or a disaster. Nothing in the middle. We put on blinders and can’t see situations in a different light. We’re not open to seeing possibilities. We’re stuck in the messy middle.

On the other hand, if we believe that we can create the life we choose, the blinders come off. We don’t see perfection or disaster, but opportunity. We put aside the impulse to pronounce judgment on ourselves or the situation and instead say, “That’s interesting. What opening does this provide for me?”

Building your business is not about perfection and controlling outcomes. It’s about embracing whatever comes your way and exploring the opportunities that open up as a result.

As my own business coach says, “Have fun while building your business!”

If you’re feeling stuck in the messy middle as you build your business, I’d love to help you make the mindset shift from feeling stuck to having fun. Contact me at gayle@total-life-leadership.com.