The Middle of The Climb
/Today is day 13 of my 30-day blog challenge! I’m essentially in the middle of the challenge. I supposed I could’ve waited until day 15 to write this but now’s as good as time as any.
We often hear about starting and finishing as being the most challenging part of a project and a goal. And while there is some truth in that, what about the middle?
If you pick up almost any book on my book shelf, you will likely find a bookmark in the middle. I started the book, made it to the middle, and put it down to finish some other day. Sometimes it’s absent-mindlessly while other times I got tired while reading it and had intentions of coming back to it, and never made it. Before we analyze the middle, let’s look to the start.
Starting new projects or goals can be exciting and also intimidating. Many often say that starting is the hardest part. You get an idea or spark of inspiration and create a goal—lose 10 lbs, run a marathon, write a book, look for a new job, launch a new business or side hustle, clean out the garage, etc.
Starting a new project requires inspired action to take the first step, and then the next and so on. Many of us never make it to the start. We create excuse after excuse and say the most dangerous word—or as Author of the books Start and Finish, Jon Acuff says, The number 1 word that kills dreams—“Someday”. It’s essentially saying that you’ll start tomorrow. And when tomorrow arrives, you’ll make a new promise to start tomorrow. Before you know it, tomorrow has turned into a year later (in my case, at least) and no action has been taken other than talk.
Steven Pressfield writes about this concept (procrastination), in his book, The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles.
“Procrastination is the most common manifestation of Resistance because it’s the easiest to rationalize. We don’t tell ourselves, “I’m never going to write my symphony.” Instead we say, “I am going to write my symphony; I’m just going to start tomorrow.” - Steven Pressfield, The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles.
Procrastination becomes a habit that keeps you from taking action.
Eventually people stop asking about your project and you tuck it away in your mind under the folder “Someday”. The way to transform this is to take Inspired Action. I say Inspired Action, because it makes a difference to be enrolled for yourself in the project or goal. I often have to jump into action as soon as I get an idea or download otherwise, I’ll brush it off or procrastinate and not do it. My blog challenge started like that. I got the idea for doing this challenge and knew that if I didn’t commit to a start date, it likely wasn’t going to happen.
Steven Pressfield continues,“Never forget: This very moment, we can change our lives. There never was a moment, and never will be, when we are without the power to alter our destiny. This second, we can turn the tables on Resistance. This second, we can sit down and do our work.”
When you get an idea, choose a start date, commit to it and take inspired action to start.
Procrastination often stops us from starting a project. Perfectionism and fear of what’s next keep us from finishing.
To me, the middle is one of the most crucial parts of a project, goal, or challenge. We can get lost in perfectionism and tell ourselves what we’re doing won’t be good enough. We’ve already made some progress which feels good, yet we still have more to go. The moment you reach the middle is the moment you are faced with the choice: Do I call it complete and say I tried my best, or do I keep going and finish what I set out to do?
This question was extremely pertinent for me while I was on a multi-day hike in Torres del Paine National Park in Patagonia. I had been hiking for 3 full days. On my final day, I was faced with the difficult climb to Mirador Base Las Torres or “The Towers”. The morning I woke up to make this final climb, I was exhausted. My muscles were so tired, and I was running on little sleep. Yet, I wanted to make it to the top. Every step I took up a hill was strenuous and tiring. Did I actually think I could do this? My brain kept trying to reason with me. “You’ve done a lot already this week. There is no shame in turning back.” “Honor your body. It’s okay to not finish.” I had nearly convinced myself to turn around. And then I crossed over this hill and saw the most stunning snow capped mountains in the distance. That was all I needed to see to continue. I began to change my tone and tell myself how strong my body and mind are. I chose to take it one step at a time.
It’s about the journey not the destination.
So often when we’re working on a project or goal, we’re focused on the destination rather than the journey. We care more about finishing and saying that we did the thing we said we were going to do. And we fail to appreciate all that it took for us to get to the destination. It’s taken me a while to get to this place, but I can honestly say that I am enjoying the journey with this challenge. I have no idea what I’m going to write about when I wake up. I ask for guidance, get a nudge, and go with it. There is still resistance involved, and I will often question if the topic I’ve been asked to write is for this day. I even tried that at the start of this blog. I read my first line about tomorrow being day 15, and thought, “Oh, maybe I should wait to write this until tomorrow.” Luckily, I have keen awareness and knew that that was a way for me to procrastinate writing. So I sucked it up and took inspired action.
I am amazed that I’m already on day 14 of this challenge. It shows me 1) how fast time moves and 2) how I show up when I’m committed to a goal. I’m proud of myself for showing up for this challenge. My days are not consistent; my topics are not orderly; yet, they’re aligned with who I am and how I best operate.
When you notice that you’re struggling with starting, ask yourself: "What am I afraid of by starting? What is really stopping me from starting?”
When you are in the middle and lack the motivation to keep going, ask yourself: “What am I resisting? Why am I afraid to keep going?”