You're probably looking at skill progression the wrong way

And that may cost your future

Author

How Not To Suck At Writing
November 18, 2024

There comes a point in your life where publishing more work and reading more writing books won’t make you any better.

The more you publish and read, the more frustration builds up because nothing seems to be working.

You’ll have a sense of doubt whether you’ve reached your maximum potential. You’ll feel defeated.

The reason you feel this is because you have the wrong picture of progression.

You probably think that with every book you read and with every work you publish, you’ll steadily improve.

No.

Here’s the truth of what progression looks like.

The truth is, whether it's about skills or money, it’s never a linear, steady growth.

Most of your journey will be spent on plateaus. You’ll only progress if you keep showing up every day and embrace the plateau long enough.

Many accomplished individuals across different fields—whether athletes, musicians, or artists—talk about facing plateaus in their progress.

They often share how pushing through these tough periods was key to achieving those big breakthrough moments.

For example, George Leonard, an editor of Esquire wrote about this topic titled “Playing For Keeps: The Art of Mastery in Sports and Life.”

He wrote,

The most important lessons here — especially for young people — is that even if you’re shooting for the stars, you’re going to spend most of your time on a plateau. That’s where the deepest, most lasting learning takes place, so you might as well enjoy it. When I was first learning…I just assumed that I would steadily improve.

My first plateau was something of a shock and disappointment, but I persevered and finally experienced an apparent spurt of learning. The next time my outward progress stopped, I said to myself ‘oh damn, another plateau’. After a few months, there was another spurt of progress and then, of course, the inevitable plateau. This time, something marvellous happened. I found myself thinking ‘Oh boy, another plateau. Good, if I stay on it and keep practicing, I’m absolutely assured another surge of progress. It was one of the best and warmest moments of my life.’

You must persevere and prove to the universe and yourself that you deserve the progress.

However, it’s only for a brief moment when you get it. After a while, you’ll inevitably hit another plateau.

Now, it’s back to the grind to prove you deserve the next spurt of progress.

With that said, be patient, play the long game, and never stop learning and searching for alternative sources of knowledge.

You can read more about this on Trung Phan’s Substack. The title of the post is Jerry Seinfeld, Ichiro Suzuki and the Pursuit of Mastery

P.S. I have something that may give you that brief surge of progress you’re yearning for.

Or read this free sample. It might change your mind.