What’s the Plateau of Latent Potential and What To Do About It?
Why bad habits stick and good ones don’t.
Developing new habits is hard. When we try to study everyday, the course it still unfinished. If we work-out each day, we still don’t see the results. So we give up.
But why is it so? The Plateau of Latent Potential is the time lag between efforts and achieving the results we want. Our efforts don’t make a visible change unless they cross a critical threshold. What we experience prior to this moment is called the ‘Valley of Disappointment’. If you’re struggling to improve but don’t see any effective changes yet, it’s because you haven’t crossed the Plateau of Latent Potential.
But if absence of visible results makes it harder to stick to habits, what can we do to make it work? Here are 3 things that might help you :
Behavior that in incongruent with the self does not last.
An interesting idea James Clear puts across in his book is that our habits are deeply linked to our identities. So changing our habits without changing the underlying identity makes it nearly impossible to commit to them.
If you try to read everyday, it won’t be long before you return to your old habits. It’s because you still don’t see yourself as a reader yet. The purpose of habits is to not achieve a goal, but to achieve a certain identity.
You do not read a book everyday, you become a reader.
You do not workout everyday, you become a healthier person.
It is without this shift in our belief system that the habits we try to develop don’t stick.
Habits form based on frequency not time.
We often think of finishing tasks rather than starting them. It compels us into a commitment that we’re not ready for and we hardly even end up getting started. Instead of finishing a chapter, think about starting it. Instead of cleaning-up your room, think about beginning it.
This mental shift greatly reduces the likelihood of procrastination and you’re more likely to get things done.
Results have nothing to do with the goals you set and everything to do with the systems you follow.
The Paper-Clip Strategy. Break your goal into smaller tasks to be performed in a day. Take the case of making sales calls. Say you have to make 10, make 1 call a day, and for each call transfer a paper-clip from a jar full of them to an empty one. The paper-clips provide visual evidence of your progress, making it easier to stick to habits.
