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!
November 30th, 2006 at 9:22 pm
Amen. ;P
December 1st, 2006 at 12:03 am
That’s a good reminder Alvin.
Another one I find very useful for me is this – get myself out. Whether to meet friends, or just wandering around with a mind that keeps going “Wow!” on things I see, hear and feel. Anything and everything.
Then I’ll get new thoughts and ideas on how those “Wow” relate and connect to love and life.
December 1st, 2006 at 12:26 am
Alvin: I’m glad The Nine Rules was able to help you out on a personal level. It’s stories like these that make plugin development worthwhile.
Cheers.
December 1st, 2006 at 11:43 am
Hi Kloudiia,
You’re completely right! Working in front of the computer doesn’t mean being stuck there, although I do have a tendency to hang around my pc a tad too much :p
Hi Brian,
Thanks for writing that fun plugin
December 1st, 2006 at 12:36 pm
Hi Alvin,
Loved today’s post. Good to know that I am not alone when I’m out there on those plateaus. Good informative site you have here.
Al Smith
December 1st, 2006 at 11:20 pm
Excellent – this made me smile. Sometimes inspiration is right there and we miss it.
November 28th, 2007 at 5:12 pm
Unfortunately Alvin your link to the 9 rules plugin does not work. It sounds like a useful addition to have a rule show each time to give me inspiration.