We?ve entered an exhilarating new era of self-invention. With access to new resources, technologies, and connectivity, you no longer have to rely on traditional channels to craft an incredible career. But surviving and thriving in this new landscape requires a highly proactive approach. Maximize Your Potential will show you how to generate new opportunities, cultivate your creative expertise, build valuable relationships, and take bold, new risks so that you can utilize your talents to the fullest. About 99U 99U is Behance's effort to deliver the ?missing curriculum? that you didn't get in school, highlighting best practices for making ideas happen. We do this through interviews, articles, and videos on our Webby Award-winning website at 99u.com, our annual 99U Conference in New York City, our bestselling book Making Ideas Happen, and our ongoing 99U book series, which includes Manage Your Day-to-Day and this book, Maximize Your Potential. About Behance Behance, the leading online platform to showcase and discover creative work, is on a mission to empower the creative world. Creatives from across industries use Behance to gain exposure, attribution, and opportunity. Behance also powers portfolio display for thousands of other websites around the web, including AdWeek, RISD, and the National Design Awards. Companies and enthusiasts around the globe use Behance to track and engage top talent. As an extension of our mission, we created 99U to foster new research and education on best practices for making ideas happen. Since its founding in 2009, 99u has grown to encompass a popular annual conference, a Webby Award-winning website, and this ongoing book series. Behance is a proud member of the Adobe family.

"Starting a new venture is like jumping off a cliff and sewing a parachute on the way down. This book is the parachute." Joe Gebbia, cofounder and chief product officer, Airbnb How do you make your start-up a genuine success in the long term? While most books and press focus on the more sensational moments of creation and conclusion, The Messy Middle argues that the real key to success is how you navigate the ups-and-downs after initial investment is secured. It will give you all the insights you need to build and optimize your team, improve your product and develop your own capacity to lead covering: * Coping with uncertainty and conflict * Playing the long game * Optimising your team * Problem solving through the ups and downs * Adapting your strategy * When to quit Building on seven years' of meticulous research with entrepreneurs, small agencies, start-ups and billion-dollar companies, Scott Belsky offers indispensable lessons on how to endure and thrive in the long term.

Thomas Edison famously said that genius is 1 per cent inspiration, 99 per cent perspiration. Every day new solutions, revolutionary cures, and artistic breakthroughs are conceived and squandered by smart people. Along with the gift of creativity come the obstacles to making ideas happen: lack of organisation, lack of accountability and a lack of community support.

Scott Belsky has interviewed hundreds of the most productive creative people and teams in the world, revealing one common trait: a carefully trained capacity for executing ideas. Implementing your ideas is a skill that can be taught, and Belshy distills the core principles in this book. While many of us obsess about discovering great new ideas, Belsky shows why it is better to develop the capacity to make ideas happen - using old-fashioned passion and perspiration.

Making Ideas Happen reveals the practical yet counterintuitive techniques of 'serial creatives' - those few who make their visions a reality.

"Ideas are easy. Implementation is hard. This book helps you with the hard part."
-Guy Kawasaki, author of "Enchantment"

According to productivity expert Scott Belsky, no one is born with the ability to drive creative projects to completion. Execution is a skill that must be developed by building your organizational habits and harnessing the support of your colleagues.

As the founder and CEO of Behance, a company on a mission to empower and organize the creative world, Belsky has studied the habits of especially productive individuals and teams across industries. Now he has compiled the principles and techniques they share, and presents a systematic approach to creative organization and productivity.

While many of us focus on generating and searching for great ideas, Belsky shows why it's better to develop the capacity to make ideas happen-a capacity that endures over time.