Why You’re Stuck On A Plateau And Not Making Progress

It's a terrible feeling when you don't keep improving everyday, isn't it? When you can't seem to get more clients for your business, hit that weight-loss goal, or progress past a certain obstacle in your life, you may have just hit a plateau.

“When we make progress quickly, it feeds our emotions. Then, when there's a period of waiting or we hit a plateau, we find out how committed we really are and whether we're going to see things through to the finish or quit.”

– Joyce Meyer

I get it, being stuck is frustrating, especially if you're an entrepreneur. Even if you're making pretty good money, seeing a lack of progress can really take its toll on your self esteem, confidence and even depress you a little.

Here Are 7 Reasons You May Have Gotten Stuck On A Plateau:

1. Bad Routines Or Daily Habits

“The secret of your future is hidden in your daily routine.”

– Mike Murdock

Let's say you get up in the morning and the first thing you do is eat a bunch of donuts and watch some TV before starting your work for the day. That might be a bad way to start the day.

Most successful people try to keep fairly healthy, do some meditating, read some self improving books, plan their most important tasks first, etc. to keep themselves sharp everyday.

Think about some of the things you do regularly and ask yourself if they are really helping you make progress.

2. Motivation

“Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.”

– Jim Ryun

It is always great to have good habits that help you improve your business or yourself a little bit everyday, but without motivation, you will never convince yourself to develop those habits in the first place.

Some people like to pause and reflect on why they are grateful about their life. Some people like to visualize the end result they are working so hard towards everyday. Others only start businesses they are truly passionate about.

Let me tell you, there are two sides to every coin.

You can look at your situation negatively, worrying about what COULD happen or what you dread doing, or you can remember why you are working towards it in the first place and how amazing it will be when you accomplish it.

Related: 50 Books Every Entrepreneur Should Read

3. Trying To Be The Lone Ranger

“Isolation is a dream killer.”

– Barbara Sher

Sure, you can get a lot done on your own, but at some point you will need a little help. You need to learning from others, doing a little networking, and be willing to ask for help to keep making the progress you want.

Have you ever seen an empire completely run my one person? Have you ever seen one person manage everything, make all the decisions, do all the physical labor, do all the marketing, etc. for a billion dollar company?

Asking for help or learning to work with others can really reignite a business and get you unstuck. Here's more on how to deal with isolation as an entrepreneur.

4. You Aren't Setting Priorities

“What are the 20% of customers/products/distributors that are producing 80% of the profit?”

– Tim Ferriss

If you ever feel like you are stuck or aren't making as much progress as you should, you probably have an issue with your productivity. A lot of times, we actually waste time on small things that are pretty meaningless.

Tim Ferriss, author of The Four-Hour Workweek, says that typical business owners get about 80% of profits from 20% of customers or daily tasks.

Challenge yourself to go through an entire day and keep track of every task you do, as well as how long it takes. Look at that list and think about what gets you the biggest results and what gets small results.

You could free up a lot of extra time and actually make a lot more money just by using the 80/20 rule.

5. Fear Of What Could Be

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

– Franklin D. Roosevelt

Fear is a state of mind, nothing more. Don't give it any power. Don't worry so much about what could happen. Look at things logically and deal with each situation as it presents itself.

I say it all the time, we can be our best ally or our worst enemy. Most of the challenges we face in life probably come from our own heads. Keep moving forward, make smart decisions and look at situations, not in fear, but in a logical state of mind.

Our emotions can get the best of us if we don't control them and they will keep you on a plateau until you get back to just seeing things as they are.

Related: How To Overcome Fear Of Rejection

6. You Try To Do Too Much At Once

“The man who chases two rabbits catches neither.”

– Confucius

One thing you'll learn from top entrepreneurs and CEOs is how they all seem to have mastered the art of focusing on just one task at a time. If you try multitasking you do lower quality work and get less done.

If run a bunch of programs at the same time on a computer, your computer has a much harder time making them all work. Treat your brain like that computer and make it easier on yourself to be productive.

You'll feel less stressed out and make a lot more progress.

7. Getting Comfortable Where You Are

“The riskiest thing we can do is just maintain the status quo.”

– Bob Iger

You can't improve if you want to just stay in your comfort zone and maintain the status quo. Not that staying where you are is a bad thing. Many people don't really care about reaching new heights or taking the next step.

Many people would rather just stay where they are and are somewhat afraid of any kind of change or risk. If you would rather settle for where you are and never have more, that's fine. It's not a bad thing.

But, if you hit a plateau and can't seem to improve, you have to get out of that comfort zone, take some risks and try to improve yourself or your business to take the next step.

When you reach goals, don't just feel like you've reached your destination. Instead celebrate the progress, and then make new goals to achieve.

Conclusion

Getting stuck, no matter what the situation, can be extremely frustrating. Most of the time, you can only blame yourself for getting stuck like that. The great about that, is you can turn it around just as easily and start making progress again.

Have you ever felt like you were stuck and couldn't make any progress?