The Plateau is Part of the Plan

It can arrive after a period of acceleration: a new role, a stretch assignment, a burst of learning is suddenly followed by a plateau. The feeling is like stepping off an escalator in a shopping mall. For a while you wander the floor, moving along, browsing what is around you, but no longer rising upwards.

Because so much of the language around growth celebrates momentum, these moments can feel disconcerting. We tend to assume that if progress has slowed, something must have gone wrong.

In reality, the opposite is often true.

Where the familiar phrase tells us that “what goes up must come down”, a more accurate description of growth might be that what goes up must eventually plateau. (Much less catchy!)

Despite sensationalised success stories, true development, whether in careers, skills or organisations, rarely continues in a straight upward line. Periods of acceleration tend to be followed by periods of consolidation before the next phase begins. Yet because of those success stories, we’re more inclined to see that consolidation as stagnation, and resist it.

Whether you’re in a push phase or a plateau, I write a weekly email for people like you, curious to get more out of work and life.

Success is an S-Curve

Strategists have long described this pattern using the idea of S-curves, where an initial burst of improvement gradually slows as a system approaches its limits before the next curve begins. Richard Foster explored this dynamic in the context of corporate performance, noting that even the most successful companies eventually reach a point where the early momentum of a strategy begins to level off.

Jeff Matlow describes a similar rhythm in personal performance, which he calls the Energy S-Curve. In its simplest form it looks something like this:

• Work steadily

• Push harder

• Achieve peak performance

• Plateau and recharge

• Begin again

Seen this way, the plateau is not an interruption to growth so much as one of its stages.

Yet this is also the part of the cycle many of us struggle with most.

Once we have experienced the satisfaction of reaching a peak (we finish the project, master the skill, land the promotion) it is natural to ask how quickly the next peak might arrive. The temptation is to treat the plateau as something to optimise or accelerate through.

In practice, that approach rarely works well.

Pushing Through the Plateau

Sports science explains that improvement occurs not during the training session itself but during the recovery that follows it. Without sufficient recovery time, athletes enter what researchers describe as overtraining, where additional effort no longer produces additional gains and performance begins to stagnate.

The same pattern can appear in knowledge work. When the instinct is to push continuously through a plateau by working longer hours or taking on additional commitments, the effect is often fatigue rather than renewed momentum.

Sometimes what appears to be a loss of progress is simply the stage where progress quietly reorganises itself.

The experience of American figure skater Alysa Liu illustrates this dynamic in an unusually visible way. After competing at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Liu stepped away from the sport entirely as a teenager, citing burnout and a desire to experience life beyond elite competition. For two years she did not train seriously at all.

When she eventually returned, the shift in perspective appeared to change her relationship with the sport. Skating became something she did “just for fun,” as she described it, a mindset that helped power a remarkable comeback, culminating in world championship and Olympic success.

While most of us are not Olympic athletes, the underlying principle is a familiar one. Periods of distance allow skills to consolidate and perspective to return.

Psychologists studying creativity have repeatedly found that stepping away from a problem (in a process known as incubation) can significantly increase the likelihood of a breakthrough insight later on.

What feels like a pause often turns out to be preparation.

Embracing the Plateau

Seen from this perspective, the plateau is less something to escape from than something to use well. It is a chance to rebuild energy, explore adjacent interests, strengthen relationships or reflect on what worked during the last climb.

Instead of looking up to the next level, explore the space around you:

• Take stock of what got you there. Plateaus are one of the few moments when you have enough distance to see which habits, relationships or projects genuinely moved things forward.

• Strengthen the foundations. Use the steadier period to deepen relationships, mentor others, or build systems that make the next push easier.

• Explore adjacent interests. Plateaus are fertile ground for curiosity. Read more widely, try something loosely connected to your work, or spend time with people outside your usual orbit.

• Let ideas incubate. Resist the urge to fill every spare moment. Many breakthroughs arrive when the mind has space to wander.

• Protect your energy. Recovery is not laziness. A well-timed pause often makes the next burst of effort far more effective.

• Notice what’s compounding in the background. Not all progress is visible in the moment. Skills, trust and reputation often grow most during these quieter phases.

None of these activities resemble the dramatic upward movement we tend to associate with growth. But they are often the conditions that make the next upward curve possible.

Whether you’re in a push phase or a plateau, I write a weekly email for people like you, curious to get more out of work and life.