Plateaus while learning can be crossed by taking on new challenges
Summary
- challenge yourself in new ways in order to keep improving, otherwise you will remain on the plateau
Details
- When you face a plateau, challenge yourself in a new way
- For example: weightliftrs may change weight/reps/routine. tehy might do it proactively
- push yourself by finding a new challenge and work on weaknesses discovered
Reflections
- I like the idea of doing this proactively. My guitar playing feels like it is in a bit of a rut
References
Quotes
What we learned from Steve’s experience holds true for everyone who faces a plateau: the best way to move beyond it is to challenge your brain or your body in a new way. Bodybuilders, for instance, will change the types of exercises they are doing, increase or decrease the weight they’re lifting or the number of repetitions, and switch up their weekly routine. Actually, most of them will vary their patterns proactively so they don’t get stuck on plateaus in the first place. Cross-training of any sort is based on the same principle—switch off between different types of exercise so that you are constantly challenging yourself in different ways.
To figure that out, you need to find a way to push yourself a little—not a lot—harder than usual. This will often help you figure out where your sticking points are. If you’re a tennis player, try playing a better opponent than you are used to; your weaknesses will probably become much more obvious. If you’re a manager, pay attention to what goes wrong when things get busy or chaotic—those problems are not anomalies but rather indications of weaknesses that were probably there all the time but were usually less obvious.
First, figure out exactly what is holding you back. What mistakes are you making, and when? Push yourself well outside of your comfort zone and see what breaks down first. Then design a practice technique aimed at improving that particular weakness. Once you’ve figured out what the problem is, you may be able to fix it yourself, or you may need to go to an experienced coach or teacher for suggestions. Either way, pay attention to what happens when you practice; if you are not improving, you will need to try something else.
The power of this technique is that it targets those specific problem areas that are holding you back rather than trying this and that and hoping that something works. This technique is not widely recognized, even among experienced teachers, even though it might seem obvious as described here and is a remarkably effective way to rise above plateaus.