At first, there is excitement from the novelty of the work. At the end, there is the reward of achievement. But the middle is where hard work hasn’t paid off, doubts creep in, and uncertainty takes hold. It is the stage where many people struggle and quit. When you are too far from the finish line to feel a sense of accomplishment, yet the initial spark that drove you forward has dimmed. This is called the curse of the middle.
This emotional rollercoaster of motivation, doubt, and uncertainty is not just psychological but neurobiological.
The cognitive bias that plays a big role here is the planning fallacy. In simple terms, this bias causes us to overestimate our abilities and underestimate the resources like time, energy, and effort needed to achieve our goals. We’re wired to expect a smoother path, yet the brain’s anticipatory circuits over-prepare for rewards without factoring in the inevitable obstacles that arise. This cognitive bias makes us feel more confident at the start, but as we hit obstacles, and realize it will take longer and require more work than anticipated, our brains enter into stress.
When goals become more distant, the brain shifts from a state of motivation to one of uncertainty and stress. Here’s where neuroscience comes in: As stress levels rise due to lack of progress, the brain enters a survival mode, triggering fight, flight, or freeze responses. These stress responses can make us react in ways that hold us back from the next step, whether it’s procrastination (flight), people-pleasing (fight), or paralysis (freeze). The prefrontal cortex, responsible for decision-making and forward planning, gets overwhelmed by emotional inputs, which can cause mental blocks.
To get unstuck, the key is to understand the brain’s role in the planning fallacy, stress management, and its relationship to a growth mindset. Here are neuroscience-backed strategies:
Set Micro-Goals: The brain thrives on small, achievable goals. Each time you complete a mini-goal, your brain releases dopamine, reinforcing a positive progress loop and sustaining motivation. For long-term success, set micro-goals that are identity-based rather than outcome-based. This process of building identity-based habits leverages the brain’s reward system to help push through the “curse of the middle.”
Use Flow to Your Advantage: Neuroscience shows that flow happens when skill and challenge align. Set micro-goals that are slightly beyond your current abilities to access a state of flow, where time melts away, and performance peaks. The key is to stay within that optimal stress zone where pressure fuels productivity without overwhelming the brain.
Avoid Dopamine Stacking: Maintaining motivation involves sustaining dopamine release over time. Constant rewards lead to diminishing returns, as the brain releases dopamine from constant reward, and you feel it less over time. This happens because the brain becomes desensitized to rewards, requiring larger or more frequent stimuli to achieve the same level of satisfaction. To prevent burnout, space out rewards and make them contingent upon hitting real milestones, ensuring motivation stays high without falling into the trap of diminishing returns.
To maintain optimal performance, it’s crucial to manage stress effectively and stay within the “optimal stress zone.” When stress levels are too low, we can become disengaged and unmotivated, while excessive stress can lead to burnout and overwhelm. The key is finding the balance where stress is just enough to keep you focused and energized; this is the zone where flow occurs. In flow, your skills align with the challenges at hand, allowing you to perform at your best. If stress becomes too high, it can overwhelm the brain, making it difficult to focus and perform. By managing stress and staying in the optimal zone, you can maintain motivation and achieve peak performance without feeling burnt out.
Dopamine is often referred to as a motivation chemical. Whenever dopamine is released, it helps us focus our attention on the goal we want to achieve, driving us to take action. The interesting thing about dopamine is that it works as both a reward and pain system. Imagine a rollercoaster with peaks and valleys: the peak represents the reward, and the bottom represents the “pain.” There are also baselines we operate within. The goal is to manage dopamine in a way that keeps us motivated without overusing it.
A thought experiment can help explain this: Imagine you want to get some work done, so you brew yourself a nice cup of coffee. This triggers a sense of motivation, and now you’re “in the mood” to work (dopamine is subjective). Over time, however, your body gets used to the combination of coffee and work, and the motivation isn’t as potent as it was the first time. This usually happens quite quickly. To get the same level of motivation you felt the first time, you need to add more “things” to the mix. Now you drink coffee and listen to your favorite music while working. Eventually, you get used to that, too, and you start adding more—maybe a cold plunge before you start working—and the cycle continues. You’re creating a new, higher baseline each time in order to get the same level of motivation you originally got from just the simple cup of coffee.
To avoid this from happening, try intermittently rewarding yourself. Don’t always drink coffee before you work or celebrate every time you achieve a goal. By doing this, you avoid creating a higher baseline. A great approach for this is discussed in the blog on how to use identity-based habits to release dopamine, where you’re rewarded for the effort you put in, not just the goals you achieve. You tend to stick with things for a longer period of time because you disconnect from the end goals and focus on the present. This is where effort-based rewards are better than performance-based rewards. Using this strategy when working individually or on a team can keep motivation high over the long term and minimize the curse of the middle.
Another reason we quit during the curse of the middle is that we come to realize our skills are nowhere near the level required to achieve the goals we want. A way to develop these skills needed to achieve your goal is by doing. There is a method in which you acquire the skills but reduce the risk and increase learning through improv. Numerous studies have shown that improv can improve skills such as communication, quick thinking, adaptability, and more. However, what is truly overlooked are the sub-skills acquired in the process. For example, being able to think quickly requires creativity, adaptability, memory recall, and many other sub-skills.
Another thought experiment: Imagine you want to get 10 clients for your business. One of the key skills to develop, whether as an individual or a team, is communication. Here’s what you can do on an individual level: When you’re with friends at a bar playing pool, you can practice communication skills by playing the game Yes, And. In this setting, the risk is low, and it provides a safe environment for practice, which enhances learning.
To play Yes, And, one person starts with a statement, and the next person responds by accepting the idea (“Yes”) and adding something new (“And”), continuing the exchange to build on each other’s ideas. Here, you are practicing communication and all the sub-skills required to be a good communicator, such as active listening, adaptability, and quick thinking. The same game can be played with your team as a communication-building activity.
If you would like to learn and practice these skills for yourself or the teams you work with, check out the Cognitive Play Program, where we use neuroscience, improv, and entrepreneurship to unlock a team’s dormant potential.
Set up a quick 15-20 min call with us and let’s discuss how we can improve your business, team, and life.