I’m not too sure why I put that phrase in some kind of quote marks. It’s not a quote that I know of but it sums up how I feel regarding my ongoing recovery.

So let’s say that you’re aiming for something. An end point. An achievement of some kind. Big, small, short term long term, whatever. I can guarantee you that somewhere on your journey you will keep putting the work in but the end point seems to stay still. It feels like you’re doing nothing whatsoever or that the effort you’re putting in is giving you nothing in return. In fact, it’s starting to drain you mentally as well as physically.

This is called a ‘plateau’ in sporting terms. I think it works well as a description outside of sports too. Basically you get to the point where you think ‘what’s the point? This isn’t working. I’m going to give up as the results clearly show it is not working.’

But wait a second. Here’s why the plateau is happening and here’s what you do about it. These tips won’t guarantee you success but they will give you a fairly good strategy and something to try out. Better than nothing, right?

Why it’s happening:

I don’t think there’s anyone out there who can accurately state exactly how long it’s going to take to achieve their goals. I mean to the minute accurate. The reason is that almost anything meaningful takes longer than you expect because there’s some kind of growth involved. This growth could be a skill you need to gain, or it could be some special insight or information you need to learn first. This inevitably will take longer than you expect to master.

With complex skills, improvements and growth are much more obvious than with simple skills, such as learning to walk again. Also, we tend to look for something we can measure to see ‘improvement’. Do you measure improved walking in terms of speed, distance, or time? What about the internal parts of your body that facilitate walking that cannot be examined or measured without professional help? I’m talking about complex muscle anatomy, causes of pain, range of movement etc. None of this is simple to understand, even for a doctor.

So our perception is incomplete due to lack of knowledge, understanding that knowledge fully, comparing it to other cases, and how competent we feel we need to be at the start to how competent we realise we have to be at the end. Seeing the journey fully is impossible at the start.

A plateau is also caused when you become very good at part of what is required, and the positive benefits give diminishing returns in terms of performance. A plateau is often a really strong sign that you’re on the right path but need to stay committed and perhaps focus on other areas of weakness.

What do you do about it?

My advice is not groundbreaking, but it does work for me so I will share.

Be healthy, be proactive, be disciplined. Let’s unpack each in turn to highlight what I mean.

Be healthy – acknowledge and act upon the fundamentals. Hydration, nutrition, exercise, hygiene, rest. If you want to add a 6th I would say company of someone else or a phone call, or just a message. Once a day. Every day. Prioritise your body’s needs.

Be proactive – make a list of specific actions and do them. Have a timer as a reminder if needed and get the tasks done. I like to write them out, and strike them off as I go. Satisfying.

Be disciplined – When progress seems stagnant, or worse still, in regression, just trust the process and keep turning up. Keep working towards whatever it is you’re doing. You won’t be able to see some of the tiny changes. But these require daily (or nearly daily) dedication and they mount up eventually to a tipping point in terms of progress or change. One good analogy to this is perhaps revising for an exam or researching an essay when for days on end nothing seems to make much sense snd then one day you ‘get it’. Is that the result of one sentence you read? Or the result of hundreds of hours of putting the time in?

So, keep showing up. Strike things off your list. Trust the process. It could get you over the plateau.

Also, focus on your weakest area of knowledge for the goal. Often it’s strategy that gives us access to the results. Check out ‘Good Strategy, Bad Strategy’. A superb book.

What to do if it doesn’t?

Here’s the catch: It might not work. So what to do about that?

One thing I do which works for me is simple. I think carefully about how much time it could take me to achieve something. Then I double it and add half on. So if it might take a week, I’ll budget 21 days. If, 21 days later, I’m still stuck and I’ve been disciplined, spoken to people, done my homework etc etc, then it is time to change direction. Refocus the goal. Pushing yourself to do something that might have long since lost its appeal for days on end is tough, but remember that no goal worth achieving is going to be easy. Doing extra days will nurture and strengthen your mind and boost your self-esteem.

I write this storm bound in my apartment as Eowyn causes havoc in the UK. I can’t go outside and do my 2 daily walks, so guess what? I’ve given myself the goal of doing 50 laps of my apartment to make up for it. 25 down, 25 to go. There’s no obvious difference in my movement, the pain is still there, my left leg still doesn’t move properly. But I am trusting my body and the process of disciplined recovery will eventually lead me back out with a map in my hand and the wind (not a hurricane) on my face.

Until next week…