Why What You’re Doing Isn’t Working (and You Still Feel Stuck)

Blake Schofield (00:03.566)
Real leadership. Real life. Real impact. No more choosing between your career and your life. Here you’ll find honest conversations, science-backed strategies, and inspiring stories to help you thrive at work and truly enjoy your life outside of it.

I’m your host Blake, and I’m honored to help you create more impact with ease.

Blake Schofield (00:37.646)
One of the hardest places to be is knowing that something needs to change, but not having clarity on what that change looks like or how to get there.

And if you can relate, you’ve probably been sitting in that for a while.

At some point, something stopped working. And it might not be obvious at first. It might show up as feeling a little less energized by your work, questioning whether this is really what you want long-term.

Feeling like something’s off and not being able to fully articulate why.

And so you keep doing what you’ve always done. You try to figure it out. Maybe you journal on it or talk with people you trust. Perhaps you’ve worked with coaches, done therapy, tried productivity tools or performance strategies.

And if you’re in corporate, maybe you’ve explored or moved to other roles, companies, jobs. If you’re an entrepreneur, maybe it’s been about what’s the next strategy, the next launch, the next offer, the next direction, or moving into more purpose and more meaning and more impact.

And for a while, when you’re in this, it feels like you’re doing something, like you’re making progress. But underneath it, there’s this feeling of frustration and being stuck, a lack of clarity, and this question on, is this the right path? Is this going to get me where I want to go?

And that’s the part that can feel really confusing. Because if you’re somebody who figures things out and gets things done, you’re not used to feeling stuck. Because getting things done is how you’ve created everything that you’ve done.

And so when it’s not working, it can feel really frustrating and it can start to feel personal, right? Things like, why can’t I figure this out? It shouldn’t be this hard.

And you start worrying, what if I make the wrong move? What if this doesn’t really get me where I want to go? What if I waste a lot of time and energy?

And for a lot of people, there’s an even quieter thought underneath that. Maybe I’m the problem. Maybe I’ll just never be happy. Maybe what I want isn’t possible.

Blake Schofield (03:04.566)
And I wanna pause and stop here for a moment because this is the moment where most of us go down the wrong path.

Because what looks like a quote unquote “figuring it out” problem is actually something very different.

And the reason you can’t figure it out is because you can’t see what’s actually keeping you stuck. It’s like trying to read the label from inside the bottle. You’re inside it.

So the perspective you have, the way you’re evaluating your options, and the conclusions you’re coming to, they’re all based on a limited view of what’s actually going on.

And this is where it gets tricky because from inside that perspective, everything you’re doing makes sense.

Of course, you’ll go talk to family, friends, colleagues, people who know and care about you, but they also see you through a certain lens. They have a perspective of who you are, what they think is right for you.

And often, without realizing it, they carry many of the same beliefs or ways of thinking that you do that are actually keeping you stuck.

And in some cases, they also have a stake in your decisions. They want you to be safe. They don’t want you to do something risky. They don’t want things to change in a way that might affect them.

So even with the best intentions, they’re not impartial, and they can actually cause you to doubt yourself and go in the wrong direction.

Because they can’t see what you can’t see either.

Blake Schofield (05:29.718)
The same thing happens when you look for answers externally. You work with someone who has a system, a process, a way of doing things that worked for them, but they’re not you.

They don’t have your strengths, your way of thinking, your goals, or your definition of success, or even your path.

And so what can happen is you start layering on more and more things that don’t actually align with how you work best.

And this is exactly what happened to me.

In 2021, I hired a coach very specifically to grow my business while getting 10 hours back in my week. That was the goal.

And what started happening is we started putting all these systems and processes into place. More structure, tracking, execution.

And I remember watching it unfold thinking, we’re doing so much work and putting in so much effort, but something doesn’t feel right.

Because instead of getting closer to the goal, my hours increased by 10 hours a week. So now I’m 20 hours away from what I’m trying to accomplish.

And my team’s hours were increasing too. And each week, I could see the fatigue and the overwhelm on their faces.

We were moving further away from what we were trying to create, all while the coach kept telling me that this is what it takes to reach our goal.

And I remember finally going back to that coach and saying, this isn’t working. We have a goal and we are moving further and further away from it.

The things you’re asking us to do based on this goal in the future, I don’t think they’re necessary. They’re not creating momentum. We’re not getting closer. We’re not seeing this actually moving us toward where we want to go.

We were doing more. We were doing more work, but it was not the right work.

And that moment was such a wake-up call for me.

I walked away from that partnership. I got clear on what mattered. And I got myself and my team’s hours and our work focused on what actually drove results and was a sustainable way to grow the business.

I ended up realizing that my experience, it’s not unusual, it’s actually more common than not. And I’ve seen it with almost every single client that I work with.

It’s not lack of effort, lack of capability, or lack of desire. It’s that the effort is not being applied to the right things.

And more importantly, it’s not solving the root issue.

And when that happens, over time you start to question yourself. Maybe I’m not doing it right. Maybe I’m missing something. Or maybe what I want isn’t actually possible.

And this is where it really starts to drain your energy and weigh you down.

If you can relate, then you don’t just want to be successful. You want your work to matter. To make an impact. To feel energized by what you’re doing.

To wake up with clarity and peace that you’re on the right path and still have energy at the end of your day to enjoy your life.

And instead, your life feels like a lot of pushing, thinking, trying, working without actually getting where you want to go and without feeling the way you want to feel on a day-to-day basis.

And that can be so incredibly frustrating.

Because if you’re like me, you take your responsibility seriously. You have people depending on you, your team, your family.

You don’t want to make the wrong move. You don’t want to waste energy or time going in the wrong direction.

And instead of stepping back, you’re trying to think your way through it.

Blake Schofield (07:56.396)
And here’s what I’ve learned, both from my experience and from working with hundreds of leaders over the last nine years.

The real risk isn’t making a change. The real risk is continuing to make changes that don’t actually solve the problem.

Because that’s what leads to faster burnout, more effort but less energy, more frustration, less presence in your life, and ultimately feeling that you’re not reaching the potential that you know you’re capable of.

And that’s the part that hurts.

So what actually needs to change to get unstuck and take the right actions to create the future you want?

This is not about doing more. It’s about seeing clearly.

Because the how to get there comes after you understand what’s actually been standing in your way.

What are the patterns you’ve been experiencing and what are they showing you?

And where are you operating against how you’re naturally wired to work best?

That’s when things start to click and the path becomes clear.

We’ve been taught to look externally for answers, but the real answers, they’re internal. We’ve just never been taught how to read them.

And when you can, there’s a level of clarity, confidence, peace that you are exactly where you’re meant to be.

Sometimes feeling stuck is actually the signal. It’s life showing you what you’ve been doing is not the path forward.

And instead of pushing harder, it’s an invitation to pause and actually understand what’s going on.

You know, I have a rule with my clients. If you’ve been trying to solve something for 48 hours and you still feel stuck, that’s the moment to get support.

Because at that point, you either don’t have the information you need or you don’t have the perspective that you need. You can’t see it on your own.

And that’s the piece most people miss. Because not all help is the same.

If you’re getting input from people who aren’t impartial or people who are reinforcing your current patterns or people who are giving you a system that is not built for you, that can actually keep you stuck longer and waste a lot of time, energy, and money.

What creates real movement is having somebody reflect back what you can’t see, who understands how to get to the root of what’s going on, and who can help you understand your path based on how you work best, what you want, and what success actually looks like for you.

You’re not stuck because you’re not capable. You’re stuck because you can’t see what’s actually keeping you stuck.

And once you can see it, everything changes.

So if you’re listening to this and you can feel that this is where you are today, I want you to know you don’t need more effort. You need clarity.

And sometimes that clarity comes from having someone reflect back what you cannot see on your own.

If that’s something you’re looking for, I’d invite you to reach out and start a conversation.

Even if it’s not me, getting the right perspective can change everything. And that might be the thing that finally moves you forward with ease.

Most successful people don’t realize they’re in burnout because stress and exhaustion have become so normalized.

But burnout is actually a sign of deeper misalignment between how you’re wired to thrive and how you’re actually working and living.

Fix the misalignment and everything changes.

Blake Schofield (12:27.49)
Take the free quiz at http://www.impactwithease.com/burnout-type.com to discover your burnout type and get next steps to reclaim your energy, lead with confidence, and create more ease in your life and career.