You closed the deal. So why don't you feel better?
A few years ago, I closed a big deal. One of those ones that makes you stop and think... maybe this is the moment everything changes.
For a few hours I felt like I was winning but then came the anxiety.
What if this still isn't enough? What if the next thing doesn't land?
That deal moved me forward, but it didn't bring me safety. And if I'm honest, years later, I still feel like I live in that same place. Not failing, but not secure either.
The Space In-Between
There's a name for that feeling I recently heard of that inspired me to write this post.
Psychologists call it the liminal space.
Think about the last semester of college. You're not really a student anymore, but you're definitely not whatever comes next either. Or those weird weeks after you accept a new job but before you actually start. Or when you are sitting in an airport after you've left home but it’s before you arrive anywhere. You're nowhere, really. Just waiting.
That liminal space is the gap between what was and what's next. Between finally getting there and worrying it might all fall apart. It’s the discomfort of ambiguity.
If you've built a business, you know what I’m talking about because you probably live here.
You keep moving forward, but deep down, you still wonder if you've really "made it."
That space can weigh on you. You can't celebrate too long because you're already bracing for what's next. And you can't relax because you haven't hit the safety line you imagined years ago.
What I’ve found is… that feeling doesn't go away with the next milestone. The next big client doesn't fix it. The funding round doesn't fix it. The revenue target doesn't fix it. The liminal space might last way longer than you think it will. Sometimes years. Sometimes the entire journey.
How to Live There Instead of Fighting It
Over time, I've learned a few ways to exist in this space without letting it eat me alive.
Find people who live in the same space. The founders and CEOs who look confident from the outside usually feel the same way inside. Most won't admit this out loud. They'll post the wins on LinkedIn and hide the 3am busy-brain. But when you find your people, the ones who've been there, who are still there, the isolation is less scary. You realize you're not broken. You're just doing hard things. And these hard things matter to you.
Redefine what "making it" means. There's no clean line between trying and arriving. Every milestone opens up a new set of challenges. So, I've learned to measure progress instead of chasing a finish line. Celebrate every damn win!!! The goalpost will always move. Once you accept that there is no finish line, the pressure shifts.
Learn to tolerate ambiguity. Every breakthrough happens right on the edge of discomfort if you can push through. You’re at the edge of what you know vs. what you’re not sure you can pull off. Resilience isn't about smiling through it. It's about learning to stay in that space a little longer than feels comfortable.
The Trap
Here's the trap… when you don't recognize this space for what it is, you make bad decisions – decisions driven by fear and scarcity instead of sound judgement. You chase the next shiny opportunity thinking it'll finally bring certainty. You burn yourself out trying to outrun it. Or worse, you finally hit a big milestone and realize the anxiety didn't go anywhere, so you assume something's wrong with you.
None of that works. The discomfort doesn't disappear, it just compounds.
I don't think the goal is to escape the liminal space. It's to learn how to live in it without letting it control you.
The in-between isn't failure. It's the part of the journey that builds your instincts, your patience, and the strength that can't be shaken by the next setback.
So if you're feeling that anxiety right now even after some good news, know that you're not doing it wrong, and you’re not alone.
You're just in the space where real builders live.
If you're leading a team through the in-between and need someone to help keep things running and support you through it, that's exactly what we do. Our fractional COOs help founders stay focused on the big picture while we keep everything moving forward.
Drop us a line. This is our zone of genius.
