How Do I Get Off of This Plateau I’m Finding Myself On?

Look at that — I’m on a plateau. Now what?

Photo by aisvri on Unsplash

I cannot think of a time when I was working to achieve something that I didn’t reach a plateau along the way.

Finishing my first novel? Totally hit a plateau when my villain ceased to be the bad guy. Fencing? My skill hit a point where I just could not seem to get better. Archery? I couldn’t boost my score beyond a certain point. Weight loss? More than once, I’ve reached a weight and been stuck there neither gaining nor losing for some time.

Look familiar? I know lots of people who go through this.

It should come as no surprise that I’m writing about this today because I have reached a plateau. More than one, in fact. And like every time I’ve gotten here before, the same question arises.

How do I get off of this plateau I’m on?

What does this look like?

First and foremost, it’s necessary to recognize a plateau. And it can be easy to not see it for what it is.

At first, I just see that I am neither getting better nor worse, improving or slipping back. Then, over time, as I continue to see only a little, hardly recognizable movement both up or down, good or bad, it can manifest itself into…