From Declination to Renewal: Evolving Beyond Challenges

How Underdogs Can Use the Performance Curve to Redesign Their Future

Success is often painted as a straight climb: show up, work hard, win. But for underdogs, the journey is different. It’s not linear — it’s curvilinear. In The Underdog Curve, George Place introduces a powerful performance model that explains why so many people stall out despite their potential — and more importantly, how they can evolve through it.

This model consists of five key phases: Development → Improvement → Proficiency → Declination → Renewal. And it’s the Declination to Renewal transition that separates those who plateau from those who rise again — intentionally, strategically, and stronger.

Understanding the Curve: A Performance Map for Underdogs

George Place’s performance curve isn’t just theory — it’s a practical framework grounded in the lived experiences of real people navigating personal and professional setbacks. 

The curve shows how growth moves from uncertainty to mastery — and, if left unchecked, into decline. But it doesn’t end there. A unique phase — Renewal — gives us a second arc. A second chance.

Let’s explore the phases quickly for context:

• Development: Full of curiosity, but also confusion. You're learning, gathering, and trying.
• Improvement: Skill-building and awareness emerge. Patterns form. Confidence begins to grow.
• Proficiency: You're known for something. Results show. Others rely on your consistency.
• Declination: Things feel stagnant. Skills stall. Maybe burnout sets in. Confidence fades.
• Renewal: The inflection point. A conscious decision to reroute, restart — not from zero, but from experience.

What Declination Looks Like — and Why It Happens

Declination isn’t always dramatic. Often, it’s slow and subtle, a loss of clarity, or a feeling that your work no longer excites you.

According to Place, this phase is marked by:

• Skill atrophy or irrelevance
• Loss of confidence or inflated overconfidence
• Stale perspective
• Decreased achievement or impact

Underdogs can enter this phase after reaching high levels of proficiency, especially if they’ve endured burnout, trauma, or simply outgrown their original goals.

The danger? Many stay stuck here, mistaking it for a permanent plateau.

Why Renewal Matters and What Triggers It

Renewal isn’t automatic. It requires what Place calls a Cinderella Moment not a fairytale rescue, but a real internal decision: I’m not done. I’m ready to grow again, differently.

Renewal involves:

• Revisiting and rewriting your personal narrative
• Intentionally evaluating relationships and pruning those that no longer support growth
• Reframing how you define success
• Creating a second performance curve that overlays the first — by choice, not by force

This moment often stems from internal clarity, not external recognition. It’s the quiet decision to rise, even when no one is watching.

How to Transition from Declination to Renewal

If you recognize yourself in the Declination phase, you’re not alone — and you’re not stuck. Here’s how Place recommends entering Renewal:

1. Reframe “Stuck” as “Ready”

Stagnation is information. If you feel unmotivated or underutilized, it’s not proof you’ve failed — it’s a signal to shift.

“Avoidable errors are of our own doing. They can be mitigated and thus avoided.” — The Underdog Curve

2. Start with Internal Underdogging

Rather than trying to prove people wrong, use internal underdogging to prove yourself right. This mindset is grounded, growth-oriented, and self-led.

3. Begin the Work of Enacting

Enacting means preparing for your next phase even before it arrives. It’s quiet, invisible work revising your narrative, exploring new learning, and making small shifts daily.

4. Build a New S-Curve Intentionally

The Renewal phase overlaps with the start of a new curve. You’re not going back to Development, you’re entering it again, but this time with self-awareness and experience.

Use the full Underdog Equation:

(Two Authentic Stories – Victimhood) + Intentional Relationships + Differentiated Performance = Underdog

Case Examples

Place walks through the application of Renewal using his own personal reflection and visual tools, not fictional stories. He encourages readers to use the curve holistically or for one life domain (career, relationships, health).

In this way, you’re not tied to one identity or timeline. You can re-enter Development at any time, with experience, not ego. You don’t need to crash to course-correct.

Final Insight: Decline Doesn’t Mean Done

Perhaps the most powerful takeaway from The Underdog Curve is this:

“You don’t need to give up what you’ve worked so hard for to begin again. You just need to begin differently.”

Declination isn’t failure,it’s feedback. And Renewal isn’t a rescue, it’s a response.

If you're in a season of doubt, boredom, or burnout, this isn’t your end. It’s your edge, the moment just before Renewal.

Questions to Ask Yourself Today

• Where am I on the curve right now?
• Am I declining — or avoiding the decision to renew?
• What part of my story needs a rewrite?
• What would an intentional second arc look like?