“Things take the time they take. Don’t worry. How many roads did St. Augustine follow before he became St. Augustine?”
— Mary Oliver
Hey,
You ever look at someone else’s success and think, “Wow, they really have it together…” while you, on the other hand, are currently held together by caffeine, sheer willpower, and possibly a little bit of duct tape?
Yeah, same.
What we forget—what we never see—is the messy middle. The part where things don’t come together right away. Where frustration takes a front-row seat. Where you think, “Maybe I should just quit and open a bakery in a small town somewhere.”
That part? It matters. It’s actually the most important part.
So if you’re in it right now—the trial and error, the “I quit” moments, the creative rage-walking—take a deep breath. And then another. You’re not failing. You’re building.
Try this:
- Pause. Take a deep inhale (yes, even if you're reading this in a grocery store checkout line).
- Own it. Say out loud: “I am in the part no one sees, and that’s okay.” Bonus points if you say it dramatically.
- Reframe. Instead of, I should be further along, try, “This work matters, even if no one claps for it yet.” Why? Because it does.
This is something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately, so I put together a short video on it. You can watch it here:
You’re doing better than you think. Keep going.
With you in this,
Chad
P.S. If this hit home, hit reply and tell me what you’re working on (or just send a cryptic emoji—I’ll take what I can get).