Mastering the Middle: The Secret to Accomplishing Big Goals

Accomplishing big projects can be intimidating - it's helpful to break the journey into pieces. Photo by Matt Foxx on Unsplash

I'm writing another book this summer, and I've really come to appreciate that every project has three parts - a beginning, a middle, and an end. And while they happen in that order chronologically, we don’t think about them that way. 

First, we think about the end. We imagine what it would be like to have finished the project, accomplished the goal, achieved the dream. We create anticipation which fires up our dopamine circuitry and gets us excited about the work. 

Then, we start at the beginning. We create the space in our calendars, we gather all the supplies we need, we map out the journey ahead of us to get from where we are to that end we’ve already fantasized about. The beginning takes a bit of a bird’s eye view to the work and while it can seem a bit daunting looking at the mountain we have to climb, being able to see the path is also inspiring. 

It’s the next part that always seems to trip me up - the middle. The middle is a slog. It’s the trying and the failing phase. It’s the figuring it out and finding a way to keep moving forward. It’s not particularly rewarding, and is exhausting and sometimes discouraging. The middle is the part I most need to do to get to that end I dreamed about, but it’s also the place where I find myself talking my way out of that dream so that I can get off the path. 

Falling in love with the ends, and feeling inspired by the beginnings are great things. But unless we learn to master the middles, our dreams will remain unrealized. 

I’m quite sure I’m not alone in this. I’m sure this is why gyms are full every January and half as occupied one month later. Why so many people say they want to write a book but few ever get further than their outline. Why people claim they’re going to make a major career move but all they ever do is describe the moves they’ll make. 

The middle of the projects is where the action lives. The only way from A to B is to trudge along the path, however slowly, however painfully. 

I was talking to my coach recently about my disdain for the middles and my struggle to sustain discipline. He asked me a brilliant question to reframe the work:

“What if you only dealt with beginnings and endings then? Decrease the amount of middle you need to manage.”

Part of what makes the beginnings and endings so desirable is the sense of reward attached to them. Both are associated with anticipation, and both come with a sense of accomplishment - and anticipation and accomplishment are tied into dopaminergic pathways which are enjoyable. 

The middle is sometimes miserable because it’s often missing the dopamine mark. It can be hard to feel a sense of accomplishment when we’re slowly stepping in the direction of a goal that feels miles away. 

Research on flow state suggests that dopamine and the sense of anticipation and accomplishment that are attached to it are key pieces to peak performance. 

What my coach meant by reducing the middles was to chop up my project into a collection of projects. This is classic goal setting advice, but sometimes it’s easy to forget. 

Instead of looking at my book writing as a tall mountain to climb, can I chunk it into daily checkpoints? Can I make it so that each day of work there’s an ending I’m after, and then set out from the beginning to achieve that checkpoint? 

It might seem obvious, but relearning this simple project management principle has been a game changer for me. The daily goal isn’t just to write - it’s to write a specific number of words. It’s not to work on the book - it’s to work on a subsection of a chapter of the book. 

By chunking my work into smaller projects I've managed to recapture a bit of the excitement that comes with beginnings and endings, even in the middle. Each small checkpoint feels like a victory and I can celebrate my progress along the way.

Now, when I sit down to write, it’s not a mountain looming in front of me, but a series of small hills I can conquer one by one. Each time I hit a checkpoint, I feel the rush of accomplishment that once felt so far out of reach.

This shift has made the middle, that once miserable slog, a bit more bearable - and sometimes, even enjoyable. Not only that, but it allows me to hack into flow more regularly and I find my writing is even more inspired and interesting. The middle no longer feels like a void of effort but has become the space where growth happens, where the journey unfolds, and where, with each small step, I move closer to that dream I once only fantasized about.

So, when you hit your middle - whether it’s writing a book, starting a business, or achieving any big goal - break it down. Focus on what’s right in front of you, celebrate every small win, and keep your eye on the next checkpoint. Make every day a beginning and an ending, and the middles will add up to a fulfilling journey.