9 Rules To Get Out of Plateaus

A month ago I was stuck in a plateau; my ideas for Life Coaches Blog posts were running dry and I couldn’t see a way out.

The answer to why and what to do came in a serendipitous way.

I’d installed Brian’s The Nine Rules plug-in for WordPress, it randomly displays one of the 9 rules from 9rules on your WordPress dashboard.

It ran for a while, and nothing out of the ordinary happened.

But one day (when my mind was ready for the lesson, I suspect) rule number 2 popped up in my WordPress dashboard, and struck me like a hammer right between the eyes:

Never stop learning.

I realized with a gasp, I had stopped learning! In the past few weeks I’d relied on things I already knew to provide fodder for my posts, but I’d neglected to continue reading, learning and putting into use new personal development tools to improve my own life.

But 9rules wasn’t done with me yet.

Another golden nugget of self-help was about to hit me; rule number 8:

Must constantly improve.

I realized that was the only real cure against getting stuck in any kind of plateau; the drive to constantly improve and grow no matter how much it seems you’re getting nowhere.

Struck by these rules, like a Greek peasant struck by the Olympian Gods, I went out, bought a couple of books with new stuff to learn, went a few new places and was rewarded with a few new thoughts :)

And with the thought of the last rule:

Respect your inspiration.

in mind, I hereby pay my respects to the almighty 9rules, may the gods of SEO, Google-juice and the Kool-Aid bless them forever and ever!

9 Responses to “Fast and Effective Ways for Coping with Stress”

  1. Julie Melillo
    November 9 2008 at 5:50 am #

    I really enjoyed this post. It’s easy to forget how powerful our physical reactions are! I like your approach here. Especially reminding the reader that we are not always ready for change — though we think we are! I agree that the real failure is letting fear stop us. Thanks for posting this!

  2. karen parsons
    November 9 2008 at 6:46 pm #

    Hi Julie,

    Thank you for your kind words. I am glad it was helpful! “Coping with Stress” is a part of a series of articles on Stress that I have written, hopefully Life Coaches Blog will be posting the rest. So keep in touch!

    Kindest regards,

    Karen

  3. Jill R.
    November 10 2008 at 6:55 am #

    This is a great article. I especially like the list of symptoms… some of which a lot of people may not recognize as a sign of stress.

    It’s also important to continue with your stress managment activities even when there are no signs or symptoms of stress. Doing this will help you become stressed less often and ward off stress before it even begins.

  4. karen parsons
    November 10 2008 at 5:48 pm #

    Hi Jill,

    Absolutely, it should be a way of life! Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts.

    Kindest regards,

    Karen

  5. yvonne
    July 1 2009 at 10:36 pm #

    Hi,
    Great site!!!!! Good health is very important with the high cost of medical coverage. We need to have a healther lifestyle by taking care of our health eating and exercising. I am a cancer survivor and I know. Our health is our greatest asset. Keep up the Good Work!!!!!

  6. Rev. Dr. Bush
    January 16 2010 at 1:03 pm #

    The physical body does not differentiate between happy stress and overwhelm. Stress is stress. We need to develop coping mechanisms in our daily life to avoid the harmful, physiological effects of stress.

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

  1. Live Without Work - April 17 2009

    7 Great Personal Development Blogs…

    For today’s post I’ve compiled a list of some must read personal development / productivity / life enhancing blogs that I frequently read myself! The list is in no particular order, but I have given 3 recommended readings per blog. Have a …

  2. Solopreneur Productivity :: Featured General :: 7 Great Personal Development Blogs - May 19 2009

    [...] Fast and Effective Ways for Coping with Stress [...]

  3. Coping with stress « FavPanel - June 23 2009

    [...] it and reflect, and think you have the will and discipline to do something about that. Points of the article is don’t let stress becomes our way of living. What a good [...]