Mastering the Middle

We talk about it all the time, but entrepreneurship is one of life’s best teachers. It’s like holding up a mirror to ourselves, and that mirror shows us all of our limiting beliefs, ego, and areas we need to improve.

There is a direct correlation between the success of a business and the improvements the entrepreneur makes in themselves—our ability to communicate effectively, use logic instead of emotion to make decisions, and sometimes choose what’s best for the business even if it’s not what we personally want.

One of the recurring themes in every entrepreneur’s journey is patience and delayed gratification. Something most will echo is, “It will take longer than you expected—much longer.” The ability to work for an extraordinary amount of time without seeing any reward is something every entrepreneur must accept.

This is “mastering the middle”—the quiet middle where the work seems never-ending and always goes completely unnoticed. But this is where the magic happens, and it’s also where most people quit.

In every entrepreneur’s journey, people will root for you at two points: in the very beginning—when you launch the product, business, etc.—and at the finish, when “you’ve made it.” But here’s the problem: that’s not when support is most needed.

That brings us back to the middle. It’s normal to not want to keep going when no one is cheering for you. It feels relentless, monotonous, and soul-crushing—day after day, week after week, year after year. 

But the truth is, every entrepreneur who has changed the world has gone through this middle.

It’s not a bug—it’s a feature.

Take the marathon, for example. At the start, the crowd is wild—cheering for everyone, music blasting, energy at its peak. At the end, the same thing happens. You see the finish line, hear the crowd, and finally cross.

But the work of the marathon doesn’t happen at the start or the finish. It happens in the 25 miles in between, where no one is watching, and it’s just you—one foot in front of the other.

That’s where the winning happens. Winning happens when you’re on your own, committing to keep going even when no one is there to cheer you on.

It always brings me back to the Bill Gates quote: “People overestimate what they can accomplish in a year, and underestimate what they can accomplish in 10 years.” The best entrepreneurs don’t think in years—they think in decades.

It’s going to take a ton of time—more than you ever anticipated—but that’s also exactly what makes it worth it.

If you’re in “the middle” right now, and it feels like you’re on a hamster wheel—pushing as hard as you can without making progress—remember this is part of the journey. 

Every single person who has changed the world has gone through a season of life that no one saw.

It’s where most people quit. But we aren’t most people. We are the ones who keep showing up—and that’s what separates us.

Have a great week!

GTY