That’s what it’s all about!

When you’re head down, in the trenches going for what you know, sometimes you can have such tunnel vision that you never look up to see whether you’re actually making progress. It’s possible and very likely that you’ll push past your initial fears, take action, and then — at various points in your process — get complacent with that level of action. You can get so comfortable that you never push yourself any further beyond that point. 

That, my friend, is called a plateau. We do what’s necessary to start, we go hard for a while, see growth so we keep repeating the process, and then BAM! We run into a wall. 

I’ve told you before how much I love to workout. Honestly, working out has taught me so much about myself and about some of the other endeavors I’ve taken on in life.

Stay with me here. When I first started lifting, I was super, SUPER skinny. I didn’t really believe it was possible for me to ever get bigger, because I had been skinny all my life. I was willing to try any way though, so I started eating something like 8 small meals a day. In comparison, before I would only eat once or twice a day — which is why I was skinny af.

So I grew and grew. My body got more muscular and I got stronger and stronger. As I got more and more comfortable with the habits that I had created — eating and working out consistently, I would occasionally experience plateaus where I would just stop making progress. Gym rats know what I’m talking about.

I learned that when I reached these plateaus, I had gotten too comfortable with the status quo and it was time to shake it up a bit. My body had grown accustomed to the diet, the workouts, and the intensity so those things were no longer challenging me enough to grow.

To break through those plateaus, I had to switch up my diet, switch up my workout, and really push myself beyond what I had grown comfortable with. Once I did that, I would start seeing the growth I wanted again. In fact, I would often have massive growth spurts.

And this exact thing can happen to us in life and as entrepreneurs. We finally get over our fears, we stop procrastinating, and we take bold action. We see the initial growth spurts of taking action, so we get good and into our groove of repetition and then — BAM! We hit that wall or that plateau. 

There are 3 things we should be doing to either avoid or get through plateaus — whether in life, in fitness, or in business.

1. Have Clear, Measurable Goals. It’s so important to know how to properly write goals because you need to be able to measure your progress toward achieving them. Check out the Setting Goals & Crushing Them episode of my podcast, Master Your Mission for help with effective goal setting.
2. Be Honest With Yourself. It only hurts you when you aren’t willing to be absolutely honest about your efforts. In the case of me hitting plateaus in the gym, sometimes, I had to admit to myself that my diet was not aligned with my goals. You have to be willing to admit when you’re not doing your best so you can make the necessary corrections and reach your goals.
3. Be Flexible. I always say, my vision is rigid but how I get there is not. I’m willing to be flexible and make the necessary adjustments I need to make so that I get where I’m going with as little resistance, as fast as possible. So I think it’s important to be flexible when it comes to the process you use to reach your goals.

Part of reaching your goals requires that you do a self check every now and then. One of the worst things you can do is put on blinders when it comes to whether you’re actually doing your best and giving your all to reach your goals. 

Tunnel vision is great sometimes, but every now and then you need to look up and check your progress. Are you moving the needle or have you hit a plateau? If you’ve hit a plateau, no worries — it’s part of the process. 

Make adjustments, switch things up, and push yourself further. It’s likely that you’ll grow by leaps and bounds when you do.

Have you ever hit a plateau in your growth? Find me on Instagram or Facebook and let me know what you did to get through it.

Do you know someone who could use this article? If so, please share it with them. 

Also, visit my website to check out the courses and training programs I offer and to listen to my podcast, Master Your Mission, for daily motivation and inspiration to pursue your dreams.