We’ve all been there. Things are going great, you’re making progress and you’re happy. And then, one day, you seem to hit a plateau. You don’t know why this is happening but you figure that if you work harder, you’ll get to the next level. Except you don’t. What’s going on?
I have two theories to explain this.
Theory #1: Risks and Rewards
There’s a reason why high-risk investments pay more. The more you risk, the more you can make (or lose). The most successful people in the world risked a lot at one point in their lives. Some of them still do. And that’s why they’re so successful. But that’s also why they’ve failed so much and so big.
If you play it safe, on the other hand, chances are that you’re not going to lose much, but you won’t make as much either. There’s nothing wrong with this. Some people are more risk-averse than others. But you need to understand that this might be the reason why you’re not growing as fast as you’d like. Maybe you’re playing it too safe.
Theory #2: Doing the Same Things Over and Over Again
Albert Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome each time. I’m guilty of this myself. I do something and if the results aren’t what I expected, I just do more of it. But doing more of something that doesn’t work won’t make it work.
If you’ve been doing the same thing for a while and aren’t getting the results you want, maybe it’s time to try something different.
