The “crux” of a rock climbing route is the point requiring the single most difficult move—or combination of moves—presented by the climb.

A crux can occur anywhere on a route, from the very first move to the very last and everywhere in between.

Regardless of where it occurs, if you can’t solve the crux, you can’t complete the route, even if you can execute the rest of the route flawlessly.

This simple truth leads many climbers to spend months or even years working only on a specific route’s crux in order to solve it, sometimes camping out on the side of a cliff face, thousands of feet above the ground for days at a time in order to practice.

The idea of cruxes extends to creative projects as well.

Unlike the climbing world, however, where the crux of a given route is often clearly documented in guidebooks and discussed at length among fellow climbers, creative cruxes tend to fly under the radar.

The result is often wasting months on a project we never had a hope of pulling off, all because we couldn’t solve the crux when we arrived at it.

If we want to improve the odds of success for any of our projects, then, it helps if we can identify the crux early, and develop a plan to navigate them.

Many Types of Creative Cruxes

In climbing, some cruxes might only be solved through brute strength.

Others might demand flexibility, balance, or perhaps the ability to leap four feet up and to the left and grab onto a half-inch wide ledge with just your fingertips.

The cruxes at the heart of creative projects vary similarly.

Some projects hinge on access to a specific network of people, such as the hit podcast (and now Netflix series)  Song Exploder .

If you’re not familiar with it, the show features interviews with popular musicians in which they break apart their hit songs piece by piece, detailing the inspiration and then the musical construction that went into creating them.

While the premise is interesting in its own right, the massive success of the show hinges on the audiences’ existing awareness of both the artists and the songs.

In other words, famous musicians and famous songs.

Without access to that level of guests, the show would likely fall flat.

In other projects, the crux might be your ability to fulfill the stakes you’ve set for a project with a publicly stated goal.

This is the case for my friend (and CW reader!) Daren Smith, whose  10k Creator project  documents his journey to building a 10k audience and $10k/mo creator business.

Without regular momentum toward the goal, the project quickly loses its appeal to any potential audience.

Additional common creative cruxes revolve around budget, access to distribution channels, time, skill, trust, reputation, and an existing level of fame or recognition.

Sometimes these cruxes are easy to spot and plan for well in advance.

Often, however, they’re less obvious and more nuanced.

And it’s these types of cruxes that often result in us spending enormous amounts of time pursuing projects that we never stood a chance at solving in the first place.

Identifying A Project’s Crux

The best way to identify a project’s crux is to start with a simple question.

“What needs to happen for this project to work?”

“Work” in this case is about more than just checking off the tasks required to ship the project.

Instead, it’s about creating something that is worth both our—and others’—time.

This means both creating a meaningful finished product, but also getting the attention and engagement of its intended audience, and—in many cases—getting paid for it.

For each project, the question of what’s required for the project to work will likely turn up a number of outcomes and scenarios that all must be true.

In some cases, a project may have multiple cruxes that must be solved in order to achieve its intended outcome.

In others, the core challenge of executing the project successfully might all funnel back to one key crux, that, when solves, unlocks and opens up the project.

Regardless, identifying a project’s crux points gives us the map of what’s required to achieve success.

It also allows us to properly assess whether or not a project is worth pursuing at all.

In many cases, identifying a crux we can’t solve early in a project’s exploration allows us to avoid wasting significant time, money, and heartbreak on a project that hinged on a crux we never had any hope of solving.

Not All Cruxes Are Created Equal

The crux is usually the single most difficult part of a project.

But depending on our existing skills, personalities, and assets we may have an easier—or harder—time with some cruxes than others.

In climbing, for example, a 6’7” tall climber might be able to simply reach around a given route’s crux negating it entirely.

On another crux, however, that same height might work against them.

The same idea applies to creative cruxes.

The crux of a podcast interviewing YouTubers with 1M+ subscribers about the first video they ever posted online is your ability to access and convince YouTubers with 1M+ subscribers to come on the show.

This is a much easier crux to overcome if you personally are a YouTuber with 1M+ subscribers and are already on a first-name basis with all your potential guests.

The same is true for any crux.

The trick, then, is to pursue projects with cruxes that are particularly challenging to others, but that play to our existing strengths and capabilities.

Observe, Assess, Identify

Every successful project has a crux.

Which means every day, we’re surrounded by opportunities to study and identify them.

When you come across a product, offer, or piece of content that works, ask yourself why.

The answer you come up with will be slightly different for each project you come across, but over time patterns will emerge.

Some projects hinge on the personality, expertise, or perspective of the creator.

Others on distribution, funding, or access.

With each new crux you identify in other creators’ successful projects, you improve your ability to identify the crux points in your own.

And once you’ve identified the crux, you’ve identified the lock that you must find the key to fit in order to unlock the project.

You won’t have access to the keys required to unlock each and every lock you encounter.

But you don’t need to.

You’ve got all the keys you need.

Your goal is to find the right locks to fit them in.

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This article originally appeared in my weekly Creative Wayfinding Newsletter. Each issue is the product of a week of work, and contains something not available for sale.

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