TL;DR: That graveyard of half-finished programs, abandoned tools, and shiny new strategies isn’t a sign you’re not cut out for this — it’s a sign you’re expecting progress to be a straight line from action to result, when it’s actually a wobbly journey through enthusiasm, doubt, relapse, and eventually momentum. Every time you switch strategy at the “doubt” stage, you reset the clock to zero and never reach integration. The fix: commit to one strategy for 90 days, build in implementation intentions and deep work sprints, track evidence of small wins, and have someone in your corner to keep you from bailing right before it clicks.
You’re not failing. You’re giving up too soon.
That graveyard of half-finished programs, endless webinars and PDFs teaching you yet another marketing strategy. A tool you used enthusiastically for a couple of weeks before giving up and switching to another one. That shiny object that feels like it’s the magic bullet you’re looking for.
You’re giving up too soon. You’re not failing. You are cut out for this. The grass isn’t greener on the other side.
The Gap Between Action and Results Is Normal
We all experience it. The problem right now is that you’re expecting your progress to look like this: you start, you do the work, you hit the goal. Unfortunately, that expectation is a false one. And where there’s a gap between expectation and reality, we feel frustrated. That’s why you’re seeking out new strategies, new ways of doing things.
So what does progress actually look like when you’re trying to do something new in your business?
What Progress Actually Looks Like
You start with high enthusiasm and anticipation of what’s going to be possible. This is the strategy. This is the thing that’s going to work. This is the one for me. I’ve finally cracked it. I’m super ready for this.
As you start to do the work, you go through doubt and a reality check. This is where you realise things are going to be harder than you expected. It’s not quite as straightforward as you thought. And you hit a point where you’re thinking: maybe I’m not cut out for this. Maybe this isn’t right for me. Maybe this isn’t the right strategy. Maybe I should try something else.
What you might recognise in yourself here is a tendency to switch. Maybe you keep going for a bit and start to see some progress — it’s kind of working, and that feels good. But then you’re inconsistent, maybe it’s not working so well, and you relapse. You’ve done the work, it’s kind of working, and then for a couple of days, you don’t do it. And you think: no, maybe this isn’t for me, maybe I need to change my strategy again.
Why the Relapse Stage Happens
If you can pull yourself out of it — or if you’ve got someone working with you — they’ll help you realise that this relapse stage is normal. We all go through this when we’re trying to change our habits, do something new, change our actions. The default we’ve always done is constantly there as a pull.
When you’re working towards a new skill, a new habit, a new behavior, you’re having to consciously think about the actions you’re taking. You’re going through a mental checklist: have I done the hook? Have I written the caption properly? Have I made sure my messaging is in the post? Have I got a call to action? You’re consciously going through the steps, the success criteria, to get the result you’ve been told you need.
That cognitive load is making your brain work double time. Your willpower is finite. When you’re having to actively supervise the actions you’re taking, you get worn out more quickly — you get exhausted. And it’s very easy to take that data point — “I’m inconsistent, this isn’t working” — as a sign you’ve chosen the wrong strategy. When you’re going through this progress-and-relapse stage, it feels very much like one step forward, two steps back.
Small Milestones Make the Dips Survivable
If you’ve set your expectation for a big goal to just happen with ease, you’re going to come unstuck very quickly. If instead you’ve broken the goal down into smaller micro milestones and actions, you can celebrate the smaller wins within the journey. And when you do have these dips, you can bounce back faster — because you don’t have this giant expectation that you’re going to hit the goal smoothly and easily. Instead, you’re thinking: right, what’s the next step? What’s the smallest action I can take to get me towards my goal?
That’s when you start to build momentum. It’s finally clicking. The results start to come. You see the snowball effect, the compound impact of the work you’re doing. And that gets you to the goal — to the point of integration, where you’ve done the thing and you’re ready for what’s next.
Why Switching Strategies Resets the Clock
As you go through this journey, switching feels like it might be smart. But every time you switch, you start back at the excitement, the novelty — and then you go back through the same process again. You’re confusing your audience with mixed messages. You don’t have any real results you can speak to. And you take a hit on your confidence every single time you start again, because you’re thinking: well, is this going to be the one? Am I going to follow through? Is it going to work for me this time?
What To Do Instead
Commit to one strategy for 90 days. If you’ve decided that a weekly YouTube video is how you’re going to manage your marketing, focus on that for 90 days.
Build in implementation intentions and deep work sprints. Implementation intentions are: when are you going to do it, what are you going to do, what does that look like? It might be that on Wednesday mornings, you record your YouTube video and upload it. Then set aside time for deep work sprints — maybe 90 minutes a week for research and writing, to make sure you’ve got your script ready.
Start collecting evidence. Track the progress. Have I done a video every week? Is it getting easier for me to do it? Am I getting feedback from people who’ve watched my videos? Can I celebrate the fact that I’ve got one viewer? Ten viewers? Maybe someone’s downloaded a lead magnet directly off the YouTube video I’m sharing.
Have someone there to support you. Someone who’s there to challenge you and keep you focused and on track if you feel like bailing, if you feel like you’re not making the progress you want. Because every time you switch strategy, every time you do something different, you’re resetting the clock to zero again — and you never quite get to the point of momentum, integration, and it actually working.
This Journey Is Wobbly — And That’s Normal
This journey of change is up and down. It is wobbly, and that is perfectly normal.
If you don’t see yourself in this at all — if you’re thinking, actually, that’s not my problem — there are four different implementation patterns, each with its own characteristic, its own archetype of what’s happening in the background, and its own pathway to focused execution.
Which stage are you in right now — enthusiasm, doubt, relapse, or building momentum?
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