What if the problem isn’t what you’re doing?
It’s almost the end of the year. You’re exhausted.
You had plans for 2025. Some happened. Most didn’t. You’re ending the year in roughly the same place you started it, wondering where all the time went.
Before you write off the whole year as a failure, stop. Take half an hour to reflect. What went well? What kept going wrong? Can you spot patterns?
Because the same obstacles probably showed up month after month. The same habits derailed you without you even noticing. Take the time to spot them so they don’t repeat in 2026.
Here are six common patterns to look for:
1. Forcing the 5am Club
You set your alarm for 5am because that’s what successful people do. You question the effort it took you to drag yourself out of bed and head for a caffeine fix. That’ll wake you up. You sit at your desk, the effort of staying upright is real. Your eyes don’t want to be looking at a screen. They want to be closed. Your body wants to lie down. You push on through. Get a few things done. Your progress is slow. By 2pm you’re falling asleep. You take a nap. You feel worse.
Tomorrow, you do it all again. Because you are committed. It’s bound to start working. Right?
Why it doesn’t work. You’re not a morning person. It happens. Not everyone is. Your best energy is 8-11pm. But that’s not what productivity gurus say. So, you keep fighting your natural rhythm. You are working against your energy patterns, and they are draining you before you start.
What to do instead. Track your energy for one week. When do you feel sharpest? Work then. If that’s 8pm, build your system around 8pm.
2. Chasing other people’s metrics
Imposter syndrome is hard enough without feeding it with data. You see adverts from people presenting themself as successful and offering to reveal their secret (for a price, obviously). Multiple times a day. Advert after advert. Post after post. Each word chipping away at your confidence. Each word telling you that they are right and you are wrong. You set the bar by their success and wonder how they did it.
Why it doesn’t work. Whatever you want to measure, you’ll find someone or something else that performs better. Someone who is taller. Smarter. Funnier. Then you use what you’ve found to reinforce your own ‘shortcomings’. It’s common. Everyone does it. You’re not building your business. You’re feeding imposter syndrome with data.
What to do instead. Take a break from the content that is draining you. Delete the app. Just for a couple of days. Nothing too drastic. Give yourself time and space to think. Define what success is to you. Set your own goals. What would feel like progress? Where are you now? Where do you want to be? When feels realistic? That’s your goal.
3. Copying someone else’s system exactly
Successful people share their systems. Morning routines. Productivity frameworks. Business models. You copy one. Exactly. No modifications. It feels weird. It doesn’t quite fit. But it works for them. So, you stick with it and hope it will eventually feel right. It won’t.
Why it doesn’t work. Firstly, it’s their life, not yours. And, secondly, what proof do you have that they follow it? A few staged photos? Have they shared their whole system? Did they tell you why they do the things they do? Unlikely. So, you are copying a system that isn’t clear. That’s been created for someone else’s life. That may, or may not, be complete. May, or may not, have hidden bits.
What to do instead. Stop and consider what’s working and what isn’t. If you really like their system, or a part of it, consider how you could adapt it for your life. Take the ideas that resonate with you, not the ones they insist are non-negotiable, and adapt them to your life. I understand that journalling could help me. I don’t know how to journal. A lot of the journalling advice doesn’t align with me. So, I write one sentence at the end of each day. A one sentence summary or thought or reflection on my day. It works.
4. Breaks don’t get the work done
You refuse to take breaks. If you’re not at your computer, work can’t get done. So you sit and stare. Scroll and call it ‘research’. Procrastinate. Hour after hour. Getting increasingly tired and frustrated. Chipping away at your confidence with every unproductive minute.
Why it doesn’t work. You are reinforcing your negative thoughts. Feeding your imposter syndrome. Proving to yourself that you don’t know what you are doing. Eventually you will feel that you are running on empty. Hours of trying to work. Very little to show for it.
What to do instead. It comes back to energy again. If you know your energy patterns and work with them, you can organise your day, so you work when you are feeling your best. Simple? Not really. You still need to get yourself up and away from your desk. Overcome the feelings of guilt that you ‘should be working’. But, stepping away will give your brain and eyes a rest.
When you start to trust in the importance of rest, you’ll find your best ideas come when you aren’t forcing them. Your work blocks will flow better. Starting to work for myself, this is what I struggle with the most. I know I work best from early to late morning and again from late afternoon to early evening. Now I plan things to do in the afternoon. I go for a walk, do some hobbies, get some chores done. It works. I get more done.
5. Scrolling in the name of research
How often do you tell yourself that you are researching when you are scrolling? Researching ideas for social. Researching ‘how to’ do something. Do you stop to pay attention to what you are looking at? Do you notice when you get distracted by videos? Click bait that you know is click bait, but you click anyway. Before too long you forget what you were researching. You are off down a completely unrelated rabbit hole and you can’t see daylight any more. 5 minutes pass. Then 10. You find a fork in the burrow and you’re off in another direction. When you eventually come up for air, your eyes are stinging. Your brain feels numb. You need a break. You’ll do the research later.
Why it doesn’t work. Algorithms are programmed to keep you scrolling. It is unlikely you are going to exhaust your research. They don’t want you to. By distracting you with other content they know you like, they keep you scrolling. They win the battle for your attention. Every time.
What to do instead. Plan your research before you start.Write down a clear objective. A question you need to answer. Write it big and bold. Make it visible. Set yourself a time deadline. Use the alarm on your phone or your computer. Write the answer when you find it. Every time you notice a direction change, write it down. By writing down what you find, you break the focus between your eyes, brain and screen. You effectively take short breaks.
6. Tomorrow never comes
I’ll start tomorrow. Tomorrow will be better. That’s a task for tomorrow. Tomorrow is exhausting. Why? Because tomorrow never comes. You keep chasing but never get there. You feel drained because there’s no end. Every day ends up the same. Good intentions that go nowhere. You start to question yourself. Maybe this isn’t for you. Something you want to do. Something you dream about. It shouldn’t be this hard. Should it?
Why it doesn’t work. You are procrastinating. Planning for perfect. Putting off what needs to be done until you are ready. But you don’t know what ‘ready’ feels like. You are setting a goal you haven’t defined. Telling yourself you’ll know when tomorrow comes. You won’t.
What to do instead. Stop thinking. Stop planning. Do one small thing. Something that takes no more than 2 minutes. You want to write an article. Write a title. Take a moment to acknowledge what you’ve done. Write the opening line. Another acknowledgement. Write another line. Keep going. One line at a time. Acknowledge each mini achievement. Whatever the big task, break it into tiny steps and take a moment to acknowledge when each step is done.
What’s next?
Take each point and consider whether it rings true for you. Think back over 2025. What were your biggest challenges? What went well. Celebrate them. What didn’t go so well. Can you see why? Did any of these six points make you feel uncomfortable?
Pick your biggest challenge. The thing that held you back the most. The thing that kept happening. You feel exhausted just thinking about it. Consider why. Look for patterns. Things you could change. Do differently.
Now plan for next year. Nothing elaborate. Nothing transformational. Just small adjustments based on what you’ve noticed. What will you do when these blocks show up again. They will. But this time you’ll be ready for them.
My first step was understanding my energy patterns. Figuring out when I work best and rearranging my day to work around them. The biggest challenge was when I run. I love running early in the morning. Love it. But I also get my best work done first thing. It took a while, but I started running later in the day and I started getting more done. I didn’t stop running. I just worked my day differently. Taking a break is also a struggle for me. My biggest struggle. I started planning my early afternoon with things I wanted or needed to do that weren’t work. My brain knew ahead of time what the plan was.
My days aren’t perfect. There are curve balls. Things come up. But I’m learning to adapt. To pay attention. To question. And plan. Planning is my secret weapon.
Start planning to make next year different. Download my energy drains worksheet and start figuring out what’s holding you back.
