#698: Why Trying Harder Is Keeping You Stuck

The Confidence Podcast: Mindset Coaching and Tips to Overcome Self-Limiting Beliefs, Self-Doubt, Perfectionism, Overthinking, Impostor Syndrome and Insecurity

Trish Blackwell | Life Coach, Confidence Coach, Mindset Coach

Christianity, Self-improvement, Religion & Spirituality, Education

4.9 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 7 April 2026

⏱️ 24 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Most people believe success comes from trying harder.

Pushing harder.
Working harder.
Forcing themselves to "be better."

But that mindset often creates the exact things that hold us back: pressure, perfectionism, hesitation, and fear of failure.

In this episode, I'm introducing a powerful shift that will change the way you approach growth, confidence, and progress in your life:

Stop trying.
Start testing.

When you treat life like a series of experiments instead of pass/fail tests, everything changes. Failure becomes feedback. Action becomes data. And confidence grows faster because you stop making every outcome mean something about your worth.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why the "try harder" mindset actually sabotages confidence

• How adopting an experiment mindset reduces fear and overthinking

• The 5 areas of your life you should start testing immediately

• How to turn setbacks into useful data instead of self-criticism

• A simple 3-question framework to help you run experiments in your daily life

If you've ever felt stuck, hesitant, or like you're putting too much pressure on yourself to get things right… this episode will help you move forward with curiosity, courage, and momentum.

Because confident people don't succeed more than everyone else.

They just run more experiments.

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Other Episodes on Impostor Syndrome

#223: Impostor Syndrome is the Biggest Liar in Your Life

#422: How to Win Against Impostor Syndrome

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Most people think that the path to success or the path to the next level requires more effort,
0:07.0	that they just need to do more and try harder. Try harder, push more, force yourself to be better.
0:14.6	But the problem with trying harder is that it puts pressure on every single action you take and then everything in your life
0:23.0	becomes what feels like a test of your worth.
0:25.8	And when everything is the test of your worth, you're going to hesitate.
0:30.7	Things feel harder.
0:32.4	The pressure creates stress and no one performs well optimally under that type of stress.
0:41.5	And today I want to talk to you about how to shift out of this.
0:44.3	It's a mindset shift that's actually going to reduce pressure entirely.
0:50.7	We're going to stop trying.
0:53.2	Now, if you're wired like me, you're like, I'm going to try hard.
0:57.2	Like, this is what I do.
0:58.5	I go all out.
0:59.7	I try all the things.
1:00.8	I work hard.
1:01.7	I value my work ethic.
1:02.9	Yeah, me too.
1:03.9	But it's not working.
1:05.3	So can we stop trying and start testing instead?
1:09.7	Welcome to the Confidence podcast, your go-to space for high-performance coaching, designed for
1:15.7	ambitious, high-achieving individuals who want more out of life.
1:21.1	You deserve the confidence that rises to meet your dreams.
	...

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