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Friends,
I am writing this post on January 6, 2025.
My Advent and Christmas season was filled with family, friends, and travel. I trust your holiday season was filled with similar things.
I spend time doing a personal year-end review and year-ahead preview each year. This year, I used a great tool Greg Basch offered. If you have not already done some reflecting, remembering, and resolving, I commend his tool to you.
This post summarizes three posts I wrote and published over the first three weeks of December. You can find the three parts here, here, and here. These posts offered ideas on how purposeful planning can help you break through the messy middle.
Greg
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This post summarizes my December posts into a concise, comprehensive guide. You might have written out your hopes and dreams for 2025. I did, and I also wrote a letter from my beginning-of-year self to my end-of-year self. Among other things, I wrote about anticipating a new grandson and publishing my first book.
As I wrote my letter, I assumed there would be good times and challenging times.
Beginning and completing a project are the easy parts. The tricky part is what I call the messy middle.
The journey between starting and achieving our goals often feels like navigating through the fog - unclear, uncertain, and sometimes overwhelming. Drawing insights from my three-part series, this comprehensive guide offers a strategic roadmap for anyone struggling to push through what Jeff Manion calls "the land between."
Whether writing a book, building a business, pursuing personal growth, or transforming your career, understanding how to navigate this crucial middle ground can mean the difference between abandoning and achieving your dreams.
The first critical step in breaking through the messy middle is understanding your fundamental motivation - your "why." As the original series emphasizes, "When you can explain your 'why' in one clear, compelling sentence to someone who holds you accountable, you've found your north star through the messy middle."
To discover and clarify your why, consider these practical approaches:
Understanding your purpose goes beyond knowing your why - it's about recognizing patterns in your natural responses and life experiences. The second part of our journey focuses on two key aspects:
Pay attention to your instinctive reactions when others struggle. These responses often reveal your core purpose:
Examine pivotal moments in your journey:
"Your most profound growth often emerges from challenges that initially seemed impossible."
These experiences shape your unique blueprint for purpose.
The final puzzle piece involves creating a clear vision of your destination and mapping the path. This approach includes several powerful tools:
Create a detailed letter from your future self describing the following:
Create a resilience blueprint, including:
Establish clear progress markers:
The journey through the messy middle isn't about avoiding challenges but transforming them into strategic advantages. By combining a clear understanding of your why, a deep connection to your purpose, and a well-mapped vision of your destination, you create a robust framework for sustained success.
Remember, as the original series points out, "Some of history's most outstanding leaders found their most profound purpose not despite uncertainty but because of it." Your current challenges might be the catalyst needed for your most significant growth.
Ready to dive deeper?
Download my Purpose Planning Infographic for a simple visual guide to implementing these strategies.
Your breakthrough awaits - it's time to transform your uncertainty into your greatest advantage.
*This post contains an affiliate link. I will receive a small commission if you purchase the book using the link provided.