On Plateaus…

One of the interesting asides in the book I read last week about memory was a short bit on what to do when you practice something but hit a plateau.  I think we all know this works.  Initially when you learn a new discipline, whether an exercise routine or really, anything new it your learning follows the same basic arc.

Initially it’s hard and you learn slowly.  Then you hit a stretch of rapid improvement. Eventually you plateau.  And then you’re stuck.  You push harder, you practice more hours, but you’re stuck.

The example they use is typing.  Most typists get to a certain point and don’t get any faster.  They get to the ‘good enough’ plateau.

How do you get unstuck?  How do you get through the plateau?

Science shows 3 things that you can do, or at least try.  Mindset, discomfort and approach. .”

The first one is mindset.  When you reach that ‘good-enough’ plateau you self-talk yourself into being as good as you’re going to get.  Your mind says, “Well, since I’m not getting better anymore I must be at the top end of my ability.”  Like everything else once we let our minds tell that story, we internalize it and it manifests.

Like your parents and coaches always told you “Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, either way you’re right!”  You have to fix your mindset.  The people who break through performance plateaus essentially don’t take ‘no’ for an answer.

I’ll give you an example from my book on how to qualify for the Boston marathon.  When I talk to runners about running a qualifying time they will invariably say “I could never do that!”  I always ask a dumb question – “Why not?”  If you reframe your mindset then the question becomes “How do I?” instead of “I can’t” – sometimes it’s as simple as making that mental switch.

The next that has proved to be effective in breaking through plateaus is to force yourself you’re your discomfort zone.  In the typing example this would mean forcing yourself to type at a faster rate even though you are making more mistakes.  Even if you fail a lot – you assume the higher level of performance and hang in there until the plateau is broken.

The key here is you have to really push to spend time in a place where you will most certainly fail consistently at first.  Embracing the failure is part of the key to breaking the plateau.  Starting at a higher level of performance and sticking with it until you catch up is the other part.  Both are very uncomfortable.

The marathon qualification example is to start with the training paces you need to run to qualify.  Even though at first you won’t be able to maintain them.  It will hurt and you will fail.  If you stick with it you can find a new level of performance.

Getting yourself to perform above the comfort zone (plateau) works hand in hand with the mindset of believing you can do it.

Lastly, when you think you can do it, and you force yourself out of your comfort zone into the failure zone you will be forced to find new approaches.  In a sense you can’t operate at that level and it forces you to abandon your existing approach and try approaches that support that higher level of performance.

You will find the consistent areas where you are making mistakes – the failure points.  Just like lowering the water level reveals the rocks, upping your forced performance reveals your weaknesses.  Then you can devise focused practice to fix these failure points and enable the new level.  It’s a virtuous cycle.

When you get to the point of re-evaluating your approach a coach or an expert can be a big plus. They have seen those mistake patterns before and can help you fix them faster.

In the typing example, maybe you find that when you speed up you consistently miss the ‘b’ key or the semi-colon.  You can devise exercises that focus on those.  Or maybe switch to a Dvorak keyboard layout to totally change the approach.

In the qualification example forcing yourself to run those faster-than-comfortable 1600 repeats will reveal flaws in your form and mechanics.  A coach might quickly help you fix it.  Either way you’ll quickly realize you can’t run on your heels and hold those paces.

There you go – simple way to break through a plateau.  Give it a try.