Leverage Lives in the Messy Middle

🧠 The Messy Middle Is Where It Gets Good

Playing with new tools gives you quick dopamine hits.

You see progress.

You automate a flow.

You get excited.

But then comes the 80% mark — and everything slows down.

Now you’re:

• Debugging

• Naming variables

• Reworking prompts that felt sharp yesterday

This is where most people stop.

But this is exactly where leverage begins.

The more you push through:

• The faster you debug

• The cleaner your workflows become

• The more you reuse what you’ve built

That’s when you stop exploring tools — and start wielding them.

🧰 Vibe Tool – The Only Way Out Is Through

No shiny new launch this week.

Just reps.

Every new flow helps me get better at:

• Structuring prompts

• Knowing what’s worth automating

• Avoiding the same edge-case failures

These reps compound.

They turn “I’ll test this later” into “I already have a script for that.”

🛰️ Field Notes – Tools Are Easy. Precision Is Rare.

AI agents are flooding the timeline.

But it’s not the loudest releases that win.

It’s the ones who:

• Build for their own constraints

• Use their tools daily

• Iterate through friction

A $0 tool that saves 30 minutes beats a polished agent gathering dust.

🧃 Personal Sidebar – From Beginner Gains to Real Flow

The early stage of any skill is a rush.

Start surfing → first wave feels incredible.

Start CrossFit → beginner gains stack fast.

But if you want to keep growing:

You need patience.

You need refinement.

You need to stay with the friction.

Toolbuilding is the same.

It’s not sexy.

But it’s the difference between stacking wins — or restarting every week.

The messy middle is frustrating.

But that’s where the wave starts to carry you.

🎯 Let’s Build Together

What’s your messy middle right now?

Reply and tell me where you’re pushing through.

I might feature your system next issue.