Trying: Practical Strategies to Keep Going and Succeed

Ever pushed on while everything inside you wanted to stop? If you’re trying—at work, in a relationship, or to change a habit—you’re not alone, and being stuck between effort and result is exactly what this piece is for. I’ll share what actually works when you’re trying, what trips people up, and clear next steps you can use today.

Why ‘trying’ is the signal, not the outcome

When people search for “trying” they usually mean one of three things: they’re exhausted from effort with little payoff; they’re deciding whether to keep going; or they’re looking for ways to make their attempts matter. That pattern has become more visible recently as cost-of-living pressures and rapid workplace change leave more people testing new routes rather than enjoying steady progress.

Trying is a stage, not a verdict. The moment you call something ‘trying’ you admit effort is happening—so the practical question is how to convert that effort into learning or results, fast.

Who’s searching and what they’re trying to solve

In the UK the searches come from a mix: early-career professionals retooling skills, parents juggling more responsibilities, and people reassessing life after job or relationship shifts. Most are practical-minded—beginners or improvers who want steps they can test this week.

They’re not after pep talks. They’re after methods that reduce wasted effort. That’s why this article focuses on small, testable changes you can make when you’re trying.

What drives the emotion behind ‘trying’

Trying mixes hope and anxiety. Hope keeps you experimenting; anxiety shows up as fear you’ll waste time. That tension is useful if you channel it: curiosity fuels iteration, worry sharpens risk checks. The mistake I see most often is treating worry as a stop sign instead of a data point.

When ‘now’ matters: timing and urgency

Why act now? Because unclear attempts compound into months of stalled progress. Short feedback cycles break that pattern. If you shorten the time between effort and learning, you get clarity fast—so act with small tests today rather than grand, slow rollouts tomorrow.

Short case: a real attempt I made

When I wanted to shift careers, I spent a month trying to network by cold-emailing senior people. It felt like effort but gave little. What changed was one small test: I offered a 20-minute help call to people I messaged. Response rates jumped. Trying didn’t end—I just made the effort easier to act on and learn from. That one tweak saved weeks.

Five practical steps to make trying work

What actually works is turning vague effort into specific experiments. Do these five steps and you’ll turn noise into signals.

1. Define the micro-outcome: Instead of “I’m trying to get better at X”, pick a measurable micro-outcome: “Get feedback from three people on this draft this week.” Micro-outcomes make learning immediate.
2. Set a tight feedback loop: Aim for feedback within 48–72 hours. If you can’t get real feedback, create a proxy metric (time spent, number of attempts, response rate).
3. Run cheap, fast experiments: Small, reversible tests reduce the psychological cost of trying. Try variations for a week and compare results—this is how you learn without burning out.
4. Record your learning: Keep a single note for each attempt: hypothesis, action, result, and what you’ll change. Over time this becomes your decision record and prevents repeating mistakes.
5. Kill or scale rules: Before testing, define what success looks like and when you’ll stop. If success isn’t met within the set window, change the approach.

Tools and templates that help when you’re trying

Practical templates reduce friction. Use a single-line experiment tracker in a note app: “Hypothesis → Action → Outcome → Next step.” I use that every week—simple, quick, and it keeps momentum. For mental load, the UK NHS offers pragmatic advice on managing stress while trying new things (NHS self-help).

Common mistakes people make while trying

The mistake I see most often is conflating effort with progress. Long hours can feel productive but often lack direction. Another is ignoring signals: if three small experiments fail for the same reason, keep the learning but change the playbook.

Here are quick pitfalls and fixes:

• Pitfall: Vague goals. Fix: Define measurable micro-outcomes.
• Pitfall: No feedback loop. Fix: Ask for one specific metric or opinion each attempt.
• Pitfall: Over-optimising the plan. Fix: Test a rough version fast—iterating beats polishing when you’re trying.

How to know when to stop trying

Trying is different from persisting without evidence. One rule that helps: if an experiment fails under the same conditions three times and you haven’t learned something new, pause and reframe the hypothesis. That doesn’t mean quitting; it means changing the variable you control.

Also, be honest about opportunity cost. If trying one path blocks better options, that’s a signal to reallocate effort. The bottom line is: stay empirical. Let evidence, not stubbornness, guide you.

Mini-stories: three short scenarios and actions

Scenario 1: You’re trying to get promotion but keep missing interviews. Action: Focus on one interview skill, practise with a peer, and collect feedback from two mock interviews this week.

Scenario 2: You’re trying to rebuild a friendship after a falling out. Action: Send a low-stakes message asking to meet for 20 minutes—measure response and tone rather than reading into absence of response.

Scenario 3: You keep trying new diets but weight fluctuates. Action: Track one consistent variable for 14 days (sleep, time eating) and see correlation—small consistent data beats new diets every month.

Evidence and expert context

Psychology research frames persistence as ‘resilience’—the capacity to adapt after setbacks. For a primer on the concept and research, see the resilience overview (resilience research).

When I coach people, those who do best are not the ones who try hardest but the ones who learn fastest from each attempt. That’s supported by larger studies showing adaptive learning strategies outperform raw persistence in long-term success.

Quick wins you can try today

• Write one micro-outcome for the week and share it with someone (accountability speeds learning).
• Schedule a 20-minute test that costs you under £10 or 20 minutes of your time—cheap tests remove fear.
• Create an experiment note and update it each time you try so you can see patterns quickly.

When ‘trying’ becomes a story you can tell

Trying isn’t just about outcomes—it’s a narrative that becomes part of your next step. Keep the record, learn the pattern, and rewrite what didn’t work. The narrative shift from “I’m trying and failing” to “I’m trying, testing, and learning” is small in words but huge in effect.

Your next 48-hour plan

Pick one micro-outcome, run one cheap experiment, collect one piece of feedback, and log the result. Repeat the cycle. If you do this consistently for a month you’ll replace vague effort with a clear curve of learning.

Further reading and resources

For practical mental-health support and tips on managing stress while you’re trying, see the NHS self-help resources. For background on resilience and adaptation, the academic overview on resilience is a useful starting point (resilience (psychology)).

Here’s the catch: trying without structure is tiring. Add structure—tight feedback loops, micro-outcomes, cheap experiments—and trying becomes progress. Try that this week and see what changes.