Escaping the Messy Middle

Yesterday I was deep in the messy middle.

Working on a special Report project that I have been focusing on since January, I was at the stage of getting feedback.

I had sent the report out to 10 folks, and I heard back from five of them yesterday.

You know when you’ve been working on something intently for weeks and you think you’re done and you’re ready to put a bow on it?

That was me yesterday before I read the feedback.

I thought I had left the messy behind.

I thought all the data analysis and recalculating was the messy part and I was on to “Let’s check this off the list.”

Silly me, turns out this project has two messy humps like a camel.

I definitely value feedback and I know it’s an important part of the process.

That’s why I chose my 10 people to ask carefully.

I want my report to be taken seriously, so I asked people that are knowledgeable of the subject, in my audience, and that would be serious in their review.

I was not disappointed, but I was “recalibrated”.

I was not at the “wrap it up” stage after all.

I was at the “let’s take a step back” stage.

What do you do when you land back in a messy place?

This time I “phoned a friend.”

Not really phoned, just sent a slack message saying “I got feedback on my report. I may need to regroup”.

He didn’t slack back. He called.

Immediately when I picked up the call, he was like a kid at Christmas.

His enthusiastic voice said, “let’s see what you got.”

Then reading through several emails he said “This is great stuff! These people really care about you to take the time to give you this much honest feedback.”

He was the shot of adrenaline I needed to jump back into the ring and fight another round.

He coached me through as we took all the feedback and mashed it together and made a sturdy frame ready to shape into a sculpture.

When I was in the messy middle and all I could see was the mud, he helped me see the vision again so I could start to bring that mud into form.

We all get stuck in the messy middle.

For me, finding a friend or colleague to help me reframe my view is one of the quickest ways forward.

I also take walks, hang out by the creek, dig in my flower garden, play with painting, poetry, and sometimes just go to bed and let my subconscious work on things.

I’m so grateful that I have people in my life to help me with their time, with their honesty, and with their heart.

As a business owner, we all need that community for support.

That's one reason I created WEB (Women-owned Ecommerce Brands).

I saw and felt a need for women in the ecommerce space to have a support group that is familiar with the struggles, to give advice and feedback in the messy places.

If you're interested in building that community for yourself, reach out and let's talk more about WEB.

Cyndi