The Plateau Of Latent Potential
Updated: Jan 12, 2024
Written by: Paul Corke, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
When we make new changes in our lives, if we don’t see tangible results at the beginning, we tend to stop and, for most, give in… For example, when learning guitar for the first time, a new language, learning to ride a bike, or even swimming are great examples of when we may have given up too soon.
“Don't quit. Never give up trying to build the world you can see, even if others can't see it. Listen to your drum and your drum only. It's the one that makes the sweetest sound.” ‒ Simon Sinek
Plateau of latent potential
Take the guitar, most people would love to play an instrument, but there are so many people I know who have said they wanted to play guitar but gave up because they never got the instant results they wanted, it was too hard, they never had time, their fingers hurt but because the reward was not instant, they gave up.
We have all done it at some stage in our life.
But then there are people who continue learning to play guitar and still, over a longer period of time, do not see an improvement in results, so they give up too soon even though they were more persistent.
Part of the reason for this is that their results completely plateau, so they don’t see a change in performance over a long period of time. The Plateau of Latent Potential is the lag time between what you think should happen and what actually happens.
Break through the plateau
In order to make a difference, new habits need to persist long enough to break through this plateau. We have to keep going…
But if we want to be successful in our lives, we need to keep moving forward with small steps that add up over time to make big changes happen.
If you think about those who start a diet but don’t keep going because they don’t get results or their results plateau as another example. But if you take consistent steps to diet and fitness, you can make life-changing differences in how you look and feel.
What we see in the diagram above is many people give up in the valley of disappointment. Because when learning something new that learning plateaus and then we get what we expect, but the trick is not to get disillusioned and keep going.
To also believe in cause and effect, what you sow so you will reap.
We just don’t always see the effects straight away.
Believe small steps will add up to make a big difference with great habits.
And don’t give up…
Because if you keep going, you will, at some stage, see the trajectory in results go right up.
How close may you have been before, but you have given up?
As the saying goes, “Rome wasn’t built in a day.”
Neither are good habits or systems that lead to success and achievement.
So, ask yourself the following questions:
What can I start and with persistence overtime will make a big difference to my life?
What have you started, given up but could now go back to?
What have you wanted to learn but have thought it is too late now?
“When you finally break through the Plateau of Latent Potential, people will call it an overnight success. The outside world only sees the most dramatic event rather than all that preceded it. But you know that it’s the work you did long ago—when it seemed that you weren’t making any progress—that makes the jump today possible.” – James Clear
Paul Corke, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Paul Corke is an author, a keynote speaker, and considered to be a leading expert on mindset, innovation, and leadership. He is currently recognized as the No. 1 Health and Wellness Thought Leader & Influencer with @Thinkers360 and is also the Managing Director of Leadership Innovators an innovative leadership consultancy. He previously spent 25 years in the corporate world with award-winning results specializing in organizational effectiveness, employee engagement, talent management, and leadership development with experience in the UK, Ireland, Europe, the US, and the Middle East.
Paul is the author of Reframe Your Mindset: Redefine Your Success, has a podcast series to support the book and has created The Mindset Journal all based on what he calls ‘The Mindset Equation for Success.’ Paul uses his research into the mindset and positive psychology along with the thinking from his books to provide thought leadership, leadership model design, leadership assessment, and solutions to help organizations build their leadership capability.
Paul has successfully built a leadership development strategy and provided solutions in the industries of Financial Services, Retail, Automobile, Charity, Information Technology, Education, and Local Government. His mission is to develop leaders the world now wants to see whilst also making a difference through B1G1working towards the UN Global Goals to help those in need across the world.
