Going backwards to leap forward
Sometimes, we have to intentionally throw things into reverse to leap forward off the plateaus we find ourselves on.
When I used to type using the hunt-and-peck method, I reached my speed limit—I had plateaued. At the time, my trainee administration assistant was learning to touch type and I asked her to teach me what she was learning. It was a frustrating reversal of speed as I was unlearning and then relearning, but after some months, my typing speed far exceeded my original performance. I leapt forward.
I worked with a business owner to improve their administrative efficiencies—moving from using paper to job management software. I told him that by doing so, the current status would possibly go backwards, for a time. Sure enough, the performance plateau gave way to an anticipated decline followed by a significant upsurge in efficiencies that far surpassed the original results.
…the acquisition of extreme expertise progresses through a series of plateaus, dips, and leaps resulting from the invention and implementation of new methods.1
Sometimes, the best way forward is not to practice more, try harder, or go for incremental improvement. Instead, discover and implement new methods, bravely letting go of the known and relearning the new.
Wisdom is needed to ascertain the upside of change. Courage is then required to traverse the potential performance dip toward the leap forward.
Ray
ray@rayhodge.com.au; www.rayhodge.com.au; +61 403 341 105
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Gray, Wayne & Lindstedt, John. (2017). Plateaus, Dips, and Leaps: Where to Look for Inventions and Discoveries During Skilled Performance. Cognitive Science A Multidisciplinary Journal. 41. 1838-1870. 10.1111/cogs.12412.