An old boss of mine once gifted me a copy of Mastery, by George Leonard, a book about the pursuit and cultivation of skills over the long term. A key concept in this book is learning to recognize and embrace the plateaus inherent in learning something challenging and new. It made a big impression on me.
When we take up a new skill, it’s easy to get addicted to the constant improvements and milestones to reach. We learn to love the feeling of improvement every day. But this feeling invariably disappears as our strides slow, and we eventually hit a wall. It’s easy to see this as a barrier to further progress. But the trick is to recognize this is no wall, but simply a plateau to the next climb. Sometimes it even involves some backwards progress first.
Patience and persistence are how one truly pursues mastery over the long term. To weather through the plateaus, we’ve got to learn to love them as much as the growth. with the plateaus. After all, they’re just a sign that what we’re working towards is well worth the journey.