Starting something is so exciting. Like the new office supplies on the first day of school, the joy of a new birth, or a wedding day.

There’s nothing like the hope and anticipation of starting something new.

Likewise, there’s a satisfaction in an ending. A completed project, graduation; even the end of a life enables us to celebrate all that was.

But the middle. The middle is messy.

I’m leading a cohort teaching a particular enrollment process to a group of coaches. In the first few weeks, there were lots of a-ha moments, doors opening, new beginnings.

Then, as folks got into the work of having conversations with people who could hire them, the hard work began. The concepts that seemed so clear as theoretical discussions in the group or words on the page of a book had to stand their first real-world test. Many a-ha moments turned into questions, some into defeats.

This is the messy middle.

What makes it messy?

The breakthrough moments, when we develop a new understanding or demonstrate proficiency with a new capability, feel great. They open new levels of performance and competency. But they are rare and only come after many hours of practice where we are less competent. Sometimes, our performance falls back for a time as we try to incorporate a new idea into our existing process. As the missteps and failures mount, it becomes less clear that this endeavor will ever bear fruit. Maybe we should turn back or look for another path…

In his simple but profound book Mastery: The Keys to Success and Long-Term Fulfillment, George Leonard tells us that to break through to mastery, we need to learn to “love the suck.”

To take the master’s journey, you have to practice diligently, striving to hone your skills, to attain new levels of competence. But while doing so—and this is the inexorable fact of the journey—you also have to be willing to spend most of your time on a plateau, to keep practicing even when you seem to be getting nowhere…

To love the plateau is to love the eternal now, to enjoy the inevitable spurts of progress and the fruits of accomplishment, then serenely to accept the new plateau that waits just beyond them. To love the plateau is to love what is most essential and enduring in your life.

Though breakthrough moments are glorious, they are brief and rare. Most of the path to mastery looks like trying and failing. So if you are on a plateau right now (and most of us are), keep going. Ultimately, practice is the path to mastery.

Keep going, stay present.

When does the dogged pursuit of mastery become foolishness? When should we listen to those voices of doubt or the bright, shiny doors of a new idea? George Leonard has some ideas about that, too:

The best way of achieving a goal is to be fully present. Surpassing previous limits involves negotiating with your body [or mind], not ignoring or overriding its messages. Negotiation involves awareness.

When I can stay present to what’s happening right now. When I mute the voices of the past that tell me, “It will never work. If you keep going, you’ll embarrass yourself again.” What do I hear? When I’m grounded, I can see the possibilities without the distortion of the “shiny new.” I can experience my power and efficacy and know that I can keep going (or that I need to turn back).

Where are you learning to “love the suck?” What do you need to find that grounded place of truth?