It’s getting close to February! You’ve changed your diet (no foods starting with B), decided to learn Esperanto, vowed to run 5 miles a day, and make it to grade 20 in Melodics.

Great! But you’re still stuck on grade 6.

When you begin it’s normal to see rapid improvements. When that stops it’s natural to feel you’ve hit your limit of ability when in reality you’ve just hit a plateau. How do you move beyond your plateau? The answer is to challenge yourself in a new way.

Some examples of this could be taking lessons from an easier grade and…

• emphasising your weak hand / fingers
• playing blindfolded
• speeding up lesson patterns as fast as you can

You can also think about the specific skills you’re finding hard. It could that you’re struggling with finger independence, endurance or syncopation. To work out what you might be finding difficult in each lesson, check out the tags for each lesson when in lesson list view.

A good way to work on these skills is to use the “Browse by” button to sort by tag to show the full list of lessons relating to that skill – then you can go back and practice this on some easier grade lessons and slowly work your way back.

It might seem like going backwards, but in the long run it’ll help your progress.

Moving past the plateau isn’t just about practicing more, it’s about practicing the right thing.

Set yourself a challenge this week and let us know how you go!