The Progress Plateau - This Is Why You Keep Giving Up
Ayers Rock Plateau. Photo Credit: Palentour
You're on top of the world
You've just learned something new, you're ecstatic, you're on a roll, you're making great progress, you're psyched to be practising every day. You couldn't be happier.
Then all of a sudden you stop getting better and you stay at the same level for a long time and then you actually start to get worse. Sound familiar? What happened? Want went wrong?
Congratulations! You just hit the progress plateau.
Drumming is like mountain climbing
Some people are happy staying at the lower levels. Other people want to aim for the top of Mount Everest. Here's the thing: The higher you aim, the more dissatisfied you will feel at being on the lower levels. That's natural. So if you stop making progress, you will eventually feel so bummed out that you will give up. These feeling are nearly impossible to avoid but you can get over them and move on to even greater heights with a bit of knowlgedge.
So in your climb to the heights of drumming, you start at ground level and you're aiming to get to the top. It seems like all you've got to do is keep going up. Practise every day and you get better at drumming every day, right? It's a nice thought but it's not quite as simple as that. Your progress will vary.
The Progress Plateau
On your trek, you will notice that the slope is sometimes very steep - you make progress very fast. Sometimes the slope is more gentle - you make progress slowly. But in both of these cases you are still moving in the right direction: UP.
Plateau: A relatively flat piece of elevated land such as Ayers Rock (used in the photo for this article). When you meet one of these on your climbing journey the path starts to level out and go completely flat. You're still putting the hours in but you just stop getting any better. In fact, sometimes the path actually starts to sink downwards and you start getting worse. This happens to everyone no matter what stage you are at in your drumming.
When you get to this point it's important to keep focused and keep practising. Realise that this stage is temporary and you will get over it. It's the people who keep going when things get a little bleak who move on to the next level.
Alex's Bonus - The onion
Hear me out on this one! Some people think of this situation as being more like an onion. When you peel off a layer of an oinion you expose a fresh part of it but after a while that layer of onion starts to deteriorate, rot and turn brown. But if you keep peeling you'll find another fresh layer underneath. When you learn something new you make huge progress in the beginning but then you start to get worse. Keep going, keep learning new things and you will the next layer of your playing. Make sense?
Final word
Progress Plateaus happen to everyone. Instead of dwelling on this phase, focus on the fact that you will recover from it. We all react differently. Some people give up. Some people keep going. It's time to decide: which one are you?
Alex
Have you met any Progress Plateaus? Perhaps you've got some tips for how to get over them? Or maybe you're not sure about some things in this article? Leave your thoughts, wisdom and questions in the comments below:
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January 25th, 2010 - 20:17
This post basically sums up my past 6 months of my drumming progress.
Although i did learn things in that 6 months, there was no big improvements that made me move up to the next level.
This stage i am at is certainly the most challenging and draining stage i’ve ever been at throughout my drumming.
Glad you posted this, and you always told me “practice everyday”, and to anyone having the same problems with their drumming, i would advise that vital tip. It is the only way, i’m learning that now!
January 26th, 2010 - 10:21
Blaine,
You’ve said it all here. Practising every day is what sets the Pro’s apart from the rest of the crowd. All you need is faith that a bit of hard work and focus will break you through to the next level.
Alex