Why I Believe the Best Thing We Can Do for Ourselves is to Avoid the Middle

I’ve got a strong endorsement from a sandwich and a hamburger

Many people I know love the middle.

Think of it as having a cushion on our top, bottom, left and right. We feel safe. We will not fall through the cracks.

I understand.

But I take a different view.

The middle is unavoidable. Yes, it is. But we cannot stay there for too long.

Reality is not as rosy as it seems.

If you don’t believe me, you can,

• Ask that sandwich patty.
• Ask the middle manager.
• Ask the 2nd daughter in a 3-children household.
• Ask the number 10th performer on stage.
• Ask the middle class.

They will echo my views.

My In-Principle Thinking — A Workplace Reflection

I live in my head.

Perhaps too much.

I think that things break in the middle. Chopsticks, twigs, straws, and all things lanky behave this way. Tall people have lower back and butt aches.

Middle management has perpetual headaches.

This is funny, I know.

No one sees middle management as a weak link. But it is.

They are literarily stuck between heavy-ass bosses and disillusioned foot soldiers.

And I see all these office dynamics play out all the time.

• C-level dump workload on the senior and middle managers.
• Team leads lose their people to higher salaried job offers.
• Foot soldiers? They leave when they are pissed.

Who suffers? Those in the middle.

They are the sandwiched strata.

And they get their butts kicked all the time.

The Center of the Event Hall Has No Gravity

And you paid the most to be at the center.

Logic tells us that the center of the event hall attracts the most traffic. Every visitor will walk to the center, drop by our booth, and sign up for our products and services, right?

At least, that is the reason event exhibitors demand a booth premium.

Unfortunately, the economic reality demonstrates the opposite.

There are multiple hubs in any exhibition. And it may not be the geographic center. It depends on the following.

• Where the main stage is,
• Where the food stands are,
• Where attendees hover and wait.

These are the real, invisible, human magnetic core.

Strange enough, they tend to be at,

• The entrance,
• Near exit,
• The exit.

Event booths situated at the geographic center have dynamic, fleeting traffic. People walk past. They don’t stop.

And when they don’t… I cannot engage without losing them in the next 5 minutes.

Since then, I learned.

I would always book an event booth situated near the exit.

• It is easier to secure a booth visitor for a long(er) discussion with one hot dog in his (or her) hands.
• It is easier to meet other booth visitors over a hot dog.
• It takes me only a few steps to grab a hot dog.

Human hubs are rarely situated at geographical centers.

There is nothing you can do there.

So, avoid them.

The Average Do-Well Online Writer

The average do-well lives in hell.

It rhymes. Haha.

But yes. It’s true.

You see, life happens in stages. We grow, mature, play, play to win, lose, reflect, play again, and then realize that we no longer have the will to play this game.

The other game appears more attractive.

Sounds familiar? You bet.

This is what I have experienced.

• Writing about everything — It builds my typing muscles. That’s it. Expect negligible results.
• Writing about hot topics — Yeah, I secured some views. But the competition is vicious.
• Writing about what I know best — That works… until algorithmic changes invade…

I know I must work to get results as a novice. So, I dutifully pay my dues.

I ignored the stats page, the payment page, and the near-zero comment articles.

It was easy to do so when I first started. That was 3 years ago. I accepted it.

But it gets increasingly frustrating over time.

This is what I am experiencing currently.

• An account with 4-digit followers but less than double-digit comments.
• A 73% decline in payday and got compensated 50% less than my 2nd year of writing.

It’s… weird.

And this is a plateau that an Average-Joe-in-the-middle experience like me experience.

I haven’t heard any top writers grouse about the latest changes.

And I may have figured out why.

• They are not monetizing attention or their words.
• They have Calls-to-Actions actively funneling readers to their websites.
• They continue to anchor their presence on a platform with meager views because they see it as a pond to fish for their business. The fish matters. Not the pond.

Am I right on the money?

I don’t know.

But if I put on my sales professional hat — I doubt I am far from the truth.

Everyone works to secure customers and then turn them into long-term customers. That is how we score.

The top dogs in online writing? They have a system to funnel prospects to their business and convert them into long-term customers while conveniently monetizing attention in parallel.

Different focus.

Different results.

They aren’t complaining because they aren’t living in the average do-well hell.

I am.

So, I need to escape it.

And fast.

The Close

I love buns with a slice of luncheon meat smack in the middle.

I feel happy when the salt tingles with my tongue. Okay, yes. You and I should not indulge in processed food too often. Keep them at bay, okay?

I eat it once a week. That is about it.

That said, imagine that you are that slice of luncheon meat.

You probably hate it when you are.

• Stuck in the middle.
• Compressed by 2 slices of bread.
• Squeezed by other ingredients when I grab the entire sandwich.

So, don’t.

Don’t be that slice of luncheon meat.

Don’t be that person or group residing in the middle.

You probably have nowhere to run when sh!t happens. And you get squeezed no matter when I apply force to grab the bun.

Avoid the middle.

And if you are there today, I say this.

Don’t stay there for too long. Elevate your game. Get up there.

You breathe better.

(I know luncheon meat doesn’t have legs. Indulge me!)

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