How Do You Deal When Life Hits a Plateau?

“The most certain thing in life is uncertainty.”

Are you hitting a plateau? Have you been feeling like nothing is working out for a while now? Are you getting tired and discouraged?

It feels as though when I look around, many people around me (including me) have been hitting a plateau in life - businesses have slowed down; obstacles have come up to cause stress. We keep fighting for months and months but nothing seems to get better. Is it the economy? Is it the age range? Is it mercury in retrograde? What is it?

Whatever it may be... what if... what if all of these... is just a natural part of our life’s circle?

1. Accept that it’s a natural part of life

Life goes up and down like waves. Nothing is permanent. It’s impossible to always be on the high and it’s impossible to always be on the low. Look at the stock market, the waves, the weather, the rain, the sun, and the moon.

It is only natural that when things are up for so long, it will go down. Don’t beat yourself up over it.

Sometimes we’re too caught up in the moment that we forget to look at the big picture.

What’s the big picture? See the graphs below...

Life is never a straight linear line that keeps going up or coming down. But it looks more like this...

 

That’s right.

It’s not..

Or 

But most people don’t talk about it when life looks like (B). People only talk and rave about it when life looks like (A).

2. See the low period as an opportunity to slow down.

When life is down, take this as a chance to slow down.

Maybe when life was high and you were winning, you were always on the go, working several hours per days.

Now that things are slow, use the more hours that you have and put them towards self-care, nurturing relationships with family, working on yourself rather than on your business, traveling, taking up new hobbies, and learning new skills.

Maybe there’s a habit you want to quit? It’s hard to focus on growing your business/career and quitting a die-hard habit at the same time. Both require focus, energy, and tremendous strength.

Maybe you didn’t have a lot of time to hang out with your family when you’re busy? Why don’t spend more down times with them? They won’t be there for very long.

Maybe you’ve always wanted to take up guitar lessons but never had time when life was high?

Maybe you’ve always wanted to travel but work was too crazy? Why don’t you go somewhere cheap and relax for a bit? Because it’s only when we’re relaxed that we become creative. The most creative idea always happens out of the blue. Maybe it will be your next pivotal idea. 💡

3. Look out for an epiphany that leads to change.

Epiphanies only happen when you’re at rock bottom. It’s funny like that. Because critical change only happens when what you’ve been doing isn’t working anymore.

If you ask successful people about the pivotal moment in their lives that changed everything for them, it’s always when they hit rock bottom - usually inspired by personal struggles and pains.

But epiphanies don’t just happen. You can’t force yourself to have an epiphany. It is called an epiphany because it is so unexpected and so life-changing. It changes almost your whole belief system. Once you experience that epiphany, you feel like a brand-new person.

So, how can you connect the dots in life and create an upward change again?

Let’s look at our life events in the past and notice patterns...

 

[ You can download this printable below from our website: Printable #Change ]

• What was happening when life was going up?
• What was happening when life was going down?
• What kind of change took place so that life took a turn to go up again? What were the changes that happened at those turning points?
• What beliefs did you change?

Prior to arriving to that change, you experienced an epiphany. What was the epiphany? How did you arrive to that? Who inspired or sparked that epiphany?

For me, I’ve had many epiphanies in my life. Usually they were encounters with people who were embarking on a path I deeply and secretly wanted to embark on but somehow never had the courage and most importantly “the beliefs” to do it.

Now, why am I highlighting “beliefs”?

Because before we can start doing something, we need to start with our beliefs. If we don’t have the beliefs that lay as a strong foundation for our ideas and execution, it will never be successfully executed. That idea will never become a reality. It will crumble because the beliefs aren’t there.

So what beliefs do you need to change in order to create that change in your life?

You probably don’t know yet because if you do, you might have already experienced change.

That’s okay. Just wait for that lightbulb moment of epiphany to happen.

4. What does that change look like? What new things are you implementing?

So now let’s say you’ve had an epiphany or at least a better idea about what changes you need to make...

Change cannot happen if you do the same things over and over. Even if something helped you succeed in the past, if you’ve hit a plateau, it’s time for change.

So, what does change look like for you?

That change can be either personal or professional or both.

Personal:

Be completely honest with yourself here...

Is there anything you think you could change in your daily routine that would help you do better?

• Are you lazy? Do you procrastinate? Are you messy and disorganized? Are you not curious? Are you not acquiring enough new knowledge? Do you like to waste time? Do you lack discipline? Do you have bad financial management?

Professional:

Nothing is constant and certain. People don’t use the same things over and over - unless you keep innovating. Just look at your own behavior. Do you use the same brand(s) over and over? Do you do the same thing(s) over and over? Unless something becomes addictive, habitual, or a commodity product, it is unlikely to stick.

The nature of constant change created an opportunity for you years ago - remember. ☝🏻People wouldn’t have given you, your products, or services a chance, if people aren’t constantly changing and switching things up. But now the same thing that gave you an opportunity is coming back to bite you. So how can you re-create the opportunity for yourself knowing that change always comes around every few years?

Let’s list out all the changes that you’ve seen, are seeing, and foresee.

• What do you think are the changes you need to implement?
• Why is it scary? What do you need to take a leap of faith in?
• Why do you need to do it?

Remember, hitting a plateau is not the end of the world. But refusing to change will keep you there.

I hope this article has helped, inspired, and motivated you to look at life and what’s happening from a broader perspective. Are you ready to make some changes?