I don't know about other people
I know that for me it takes effort to follow through in cultivating all three wisdoms - hearing, reflecting and meditating. I know how easy it is for me to get stuck, intoxicated with only one - naturally that would be the one I enjoy the most.
In hearing and study, one can focus on collecting teachings and empowerments, and not practice, and get stuck doing just that.
One can get stuck in reflecting; part of which I think is debating - and debate morning noon and night to ego's delight.
One could get stuck in meditation, here I mean stabilizing meditation, resting the mind can feel so peaceful, so good, so relaxing, you can find yourself resisting moving on to analyzing meditation.
The result of getting stuck in all of these is that generally nothing is changed in a meaningful way - you
"stop mid-way, at the mountain pass"
That's my take.
I think of a story in an article called Chocolate Frosting and Garbage by Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron-
"one Tibetan man who wanted to practice Dharma, so he spent days circumambulating holy relic monuments. Soon his teacher came by and said, "What you're doing is very nice, but wouldn't it be better to practice the Dharma?" The man scratched his head in wonder and the next day began to do prostrations. He did hundreds of thousands of prostrations, and when he reported the total to his teacher, his teacher responded, "That's very nice, but wouldn't it be better to practice the Dharma?" Puzzled, the man now thought to recite the Buddhist scriptures aloud. But when his teacher came by, he again commented, "Very good, but wouldn't it be better to practice the Dharma?" Thoroughly bewildered, the exasperated man queried his spiritual master, "But what does that mean? I thought I have been practicing the Dharma." The teacher responded concisely, "The practice of Dharma is to change your attitude towards life and give up attachment to worldly concerns."
