Plateau

You’re grinding.

You’re working at it every single day.

You’re investing your time.

You’re spilling a lot of sweat, and even a little blood.

You’re thinking about it all the time, and it feels like no matter how much effort you pour into it, you’re just not improving.

You’ve hit a plateau.

You feel the frustration building.

You want to scream.

You want to break things.

You start to wonder,

“Is all this work is even worth it?  Will I ever get any better?”

Before you get carried away, take another look at what’s going on.  We’ve been tricked into believing that development automatically progresses in a straight line — if you do “A,” then you will improve directly and immediately advance to point “B.”

This is not how it works.

In reality, we improve for a time, then we level off in a plateau, sometimes for quite a while, before leaping upward again.  It feels random and chaotic and frustrating, but only because our expectation is based on a fairy tale — that improvement is simply a formula.

Reality is messy, but it’s not as frustrating if we accept it, and even expect it.

The truth is, most of our improvement and skill development happens during these plateaus.  We may not see it right away, but under the surface our brains and bodies are adjusting and improving — building up for our next big leap upward.  It’s coming, and your only job is to keep grinding until you’re ready to level-up.  It will happen when you least expect it, but only because you kept going.

So, relax.

Embrace (even enjoy) the struggle.

This is just what learning looks like.