Mile by Mile: Navigating the uncomfortable middle

Don't let the smile fool you.

Last week was my hardest race. By a lot.

This half tested me in new ways that had me questioning my own capabilities.

It was so hot with hills as far as the eye could see. Water stations few and far between. No landmarks I recognized and nothing comforting to tell me I was on track.

I was also undertrained and I knew it. Somewhere in the middle I started asking myself if I was going to make it.

Enter: The Wall. It shows up for most of us, even when we've done the work. Even when the preparation was genuine. The unfamiliar has its own rules.

There are quite a few parallels I see with leaders navigating organizational transformation today. Leaders who have done the work and begun to work the plan.

And then they hit unfamiliar terrain mid-change and have nothing to orient themselves.

The doubt, the resistance, the moment the plan on paper stops feeling like enough.

And then you remind yourself that reimagining what's possible doesn't happen simply because you decided it would. The change becomes real because we kept moving through the part where we weren't sure we could.

Preparation gets you to the start line. But it doesn't make the middle comfortable.

Mile by mile. That's how we keep moving forward.