The most brutal part of any goal is the middle.

In a race, it’s when you start tiring out and wanting to quit since you’re nowhere near the finish line. In a new year, it’s when people lack urgency the most, making little progress on their resolutions. When reading a long book, it’s when you wonder why you even started it in the first place since it’s just too long.

You don’t have the same excitement you had at the start and the end isn’t close enough to motivate you.

If you can push through the middle (or the trenches as I call it), you can definitely make it to the end. Your goal when you find yourself there is just to survive it. If you don’t quit, you win.

When I started the Peakspective, I felt no pressure to write incredible articles so the process of writing them was simple. Everything changed about two weeks in. I raised the bar for my articles. Writing them became harder as perfectionism haunted me. It all started to feel like one big, pointless joke.

Each time I sat down to write, I was taunted by a simple question: Why am I doing this?

I wondered what real difference my writing was making to the world. Nobody was reading it. My ideas weren’t impressive or original as well.

I had found myself in the trenches. I’m still there now.

It’s the long, drawn out phase before you start seeing results. You’re working overtime yet nothing is changing. You’re hit with the devastating realisation that achieving your goal isn’t as simple as you thought it would be. This is when you’re most likely to quit.

We’ll all find ourselves here before we start making progress.

It’s inevitable. Giving up here though means all your effort before was for nothing. It’s the worst thing you could do.

Here are three strategies to survive the trenches when you’re in there:

Answer the question.

The trenches exist for a good reason.

A lot of people set goals just for the sake of it. They don’t know what they want and why they’re really taking action. They have no shield to defend themselves against the simple question when it strikes: Why? Why am I doing this? The simple question that frees the people who don’t really care about their goal from their burden.

Think about this: if you don’t know why you’re doing something, you have no reason to keep doing it.

That simple question of Why? is meant to be answered. By trying to answer it, you may realise you don’t even have a reason to keep on going. That would allow you to quit guilt-free.

You may also have an answer in response to that question, which could be anything.

You may want to prevent an unwanted future from happening. You may be trying to support your family. If your why is for other people, that’s especially powerful. When you’re doing something for others even if it’s unbearable, you know that life will be even harder for those depending on you if you quit.

The idea of having a purpose is simple. Most don’t consider it though. Most don’t know why they do what they do and suffer because of this.

At the start of a goal, you’re fuelled by pure excitement. You can only make it through the middle if you have a purpose.

Think about why you want to make it through the trenches. Use your answer as fuel.

Celebrate really small wins.

When you’re in the trenches, forget about your big goal.

You’re nowhere near it. Thinking about it will only make you feel worse. Focus on the actions you’re taking now instead.

The author James Clear wrote in his book Atomic Habits:

You should be far more concerned with your current trajectory than with your current results.

What matters is that you’re moving in the right direction. If you’re doing that, you’ll get to your destination with time. You might as well celebrate the small wins you have along the journey.

Make the wins you celebrate really small.

You got out of bed this morning? That’s a win. You had breakfast? That’s a win. You brushed your teeth? That’s a win.

This sounds stupid but when you’re in the trenches, life is hard. Celebrating even the most random successes gives you a reason to keep on going and it makes you feel better.

I heard this great idea recently:

Anything above zero compounds.

If you’re doing anything good at all, that’s better than doing nothing.

Change your focus from the big picture to the small moments that define it.

If you only focus on the big goal, you obviously won’t feel inspired to do anything. The thought of it in the trenches will overwhelm you. Focus on the small wins you have every day instead.

Laugh about it all.

Just appreciate being alive right now.

Life might be rough for you but it could be even worse. You could be dead, but you’re not. You’re quite lucky to be here right now struggling to reach your goal. This current moment in time was never guaranteed.

You might as well laugh about your struggles.

The trenches are inevitable. Everyone has to go there before achieving success. You can choose to see it positively if you want. Laughing about it all seems odd, but you should try it. It’s not about denying that life is hard but about making it more bearable.

You gain nothing from being miserable all the time anyways.

You’ll miss the struggles of the trenches when they’re over. You’ll want to be back there, reliving your darkest moments. You’ll never get to experience them again so make the most of them while you can.

Laugh more. The trenches won’t last forever.