When we start a new job, relationship or hobby we’ll often begin with a story in our mind of how we’re going to start learning and while it might be tough, we’ll be able to stand it and in no time we’ll be rewarded with happiness and accomplishment.

Learning isn’t a straight line though, and as we go through the different stages of learning, it’s highly likely that we’re going to experience obstacles and challenges. Almost all of these challenges come from within, our mind.

Have you ever had your Risky Kid just start to get good at something, only for them to suddenly have a change of heart? Or have you ever done this yourself, where you told yourself that you’d achieved all you could? In this article we’re going to explore the idea of plateaus and how they can often unseat intermediate to advanced learners, and how they often emerge from negative self perception patterns that we need to break.

One of the later obstacles that we experience are plateaus. These are times when our progress begins to slow, however often it’s at a level that we believe is pretty good! We’ve put in the time and effort to get past the basics and develop our skill, but we believe that this is as good as it will get.

When we encounter these plateaus, it’s fairly common that a learner is likely to start reducing their effort because they’re seeing a reduced return. Reduced effort means reduced challenge and stimulation, and of course reduced results! All of this will often mean once we plateau, shortly afterwards we’re going to disengage and often quit.

Plateaus are an inevitable part of learning, and so understanding them and learning to navigate them for learners, coaches and families is crucial so that we can build the resilience to push past them.

Early in our stages of learning we’re wrestling with the basics. However once we get past those first steps, our progress starts to pick up again and we can get some real traction, with successes and triumphs, picking up impressive skills and ability.

However during this build up of skills, we’re likely to hit natural blocks again. Either because we encounter something we don’t know how to solve, or just because the effort we’re putting in isn’t enough to achieve success. Learners, especially those early on, can often get into a rhythm, and if that rhythm isn’t enough for success they look inwards.

Because learners have got this inertia, when they do hit obstacles they can often believe that rather than being something that will take more effort, they might feel it’s something which they’re just not skilled enough to overcome. Without real experience overcoming these roadblocks, which can be hard for young people to have in their repertoire, they stop trying.

This reduction of effort and disengagement magnifies the effect of the plateau, and failure and an absence of success will occur more often. Learners, especially young learners, will lack the ability to put in more effort at this time, feeling increased sensitivity to this uncomfortable process and trying to reduce it.

Progress slows, enjoyment and enthusiasm diminishes and progress gets slower, all at a time when the opposite is needed. When we plateau and don’t manage it, there’s often only one outcome. We’ll end up wanting to quit.

If this happens, then a reinforcement process occurs, where we begin to associate plateaus with a sign that we’ve accomplished all we can. The next time we face a plateau, we’ll reduce effort and move away just as quickly.  We’ll never learn the real heights of what we can achieve!

Getting through plateaus is essential for growth. They’re going to commonly occur at the later stages of our learning, but before we’ve really started to master our skill. It’s a time when motivation can be just starting to ramp up, and enthusiasm and interest.

When we break through plateaus not only are we rewarded with some of the highest levels of skill, but we also attain boosts in our self confidence and resilience, learning lessons not just in perseverance, but deep lessons about fighting for the things that we believe in and want for ourselves, and overcoming our own limiting beliefs.

There’s two primary practices that we encourage at Risky Kids to get through plateaus. One is simple, one is a bit more complex!

• Encourage & Support Vulnerability: To be able to bust through a plateau we need to tap into reserves of effort and motivation. To achieve this, we need to care whether we fail or succeed. This can be difficult though, as it means exposing ourselves to discomfort, it makes the failures hurt that much more! For young learners, this means letting them know that it’s normal, and a good sign that they care if they fail!
• The 20% Rule: This is an easier one to work through. We need to put in 20% more effort when we encounter plateaus. This will not only provide extra adversity, it will help us identify where the “cracks” are in our skills more easily and let us know what to work on.

At Risky Kids, these are clear conversations we have with our learners, to explain the importance of them but what their emotional experience is likely to be. Also, to guide them through how to challenge themselves that extra 20%!

These protective feelings that we have at these moments, where we find it tough to accept what we’re giving might not be enough, or to expose ourselves to deeper feelings, are the opposite of what we need.

We need to teach young learners to be vulnerable in these moments, to dig deep, to support them through it and they’ll be rewarded with both the highest levels of mastery of the skills they’re learning, but also with stronger resilience and evidence that they can achieve great things.