Personal Hype Cycle
Most people go through the Personal Hype Cycle Repeatedly:
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Initial Discovery involving enthusiasm of something new to the person;
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Peak of Inflated Expectations as the enthusiasm for the new discovery reaches a crescendo;
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Trough of Disillusionment as deficiencies--and perhaps even failures--in the discovery are uncovered and acknowledged;
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Slope of Enlightenment as the discovery is put into proper perspective;
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Plateau of Maturity is attained as the discovery becomes a tool and not an end in itself.
When the Plateau of Maturity is attained, there may be growth in the knowledge base, but it will have leveled off to a status of maturity with only minor variations.
Just as typical is an early exit when the hype has not only not lived up to inflated expectations but found to be so wanting that the discovery is useless after the freshness and newness have worn off.
This modifies the life cycle to the extent that a person does not recover from the Trough of Disillusionment to go on to the Slope of Enlightenment and the Plateau of Maturity, but does a crash and burn in a Total Loss of Confidence:
