How to Overcome the “I’ve Done Nothing” Trap
“When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.”
— Wayne Dyer
Have you ever reached the end of your working day or week and thought, "I’ve done nothing"?
Our brains are wired to focus on what’s missing as a survival mechanism. So when we let our attention rest on everything left to do, it’s easy to miss what we have achieved.
This happened recently in one of my coaching sessions.
At the start of our call, I asked my client:
What actions have you taken since we last spoke?
He said:
“I’ve done nothing meaningful. So many other priorities came up, I got pulled in several directions and lost track of what we had discussed.”
I suggested that we spend the first part of our session taking an objective look back at the past two weeks.
Rather than focusing on what he hadn’t done, I asked my client to share what he HAD achieved.
He acknowledged finally having a difficult conversation with a team member about low performance, which he had been postponing for a while. I reminded him that this was one of the actions from our last session.
He was surprised, and after a few moments, said:
“You’re right, that was one of my actions.”
He said he had also made progress in an important part of the main project he and his team had been working on for a few months. This was also one of the things we had discussed.
He mentioned two or three more accomplishments. Then he said:
“Wow! I’ve done a lot more than I thought.”
This is something I see often, especially in highly capable, emotionally intelligent and caring leaders who tend to dismiss their own efforts either because they don’t look like traditional “wins” or because their minds are fixed on the never-ending to-do list.
This distorted perception of progress doesn’t just affect productivity and focus; it quietly chips away at your confidence, feeding patterns like impostor syndrome or self-doubt.
The challenge is, for most people, slowing down to reflect on progress can feel counterintuitive or even self-indulgent, especially when there is always more to do.
In reality, pausing to take stock is a practice that boosts energy and focus and helps create clarity.
We spent the rest of the session unpacking this “I’ve done nothing” mental trap and creating strategies for him to look more objectively at his, and his team’s, efforts and output.
Here are five of the practices we came up with:
1. Check the facts
Naming what he had done in our session gave him renewed energy and a more accurate sense of progress, so one key insight was to pause twice a day to “check the facts” by taking stock of his progress.
He figured out that the best moments to do this would be after lunch, to assess his progress during the first half of the day, and again at the end of the workday, to gain a clearer sense of what was done and create a proactive action plan for the following day.
Take a moment now to write down at least five things that you have accomplished over the past few days. What do you notice?
2. Plan tomorrow today
One of the main things I see leaders and people in general struggle with is prioritisation. Most of us tend to be reactive to what is coming our way, which puts us in a defensive mode.
It’s like being on a tennis court and only hitting the endless incoming balls without much control or any clear “game plan” or strategy.
Have you ever experienced this?
Instead of only reacting to the tasks and requests that are coming your way, take charge by planning your actions the previous day or evening. A good time to do this is before the end of your workday.
You can pair this with the previous practice to create a meaningful bridge between your current day and what’s next. By first acknowledging what you’ve accomplished and what you’re letting go of, you create clarity and emotional closure.
Then, by identifying your priorities for tomorrow, you begin the next day with intention and focus. Together, these practices help you feel more in control, and it's a more compassionate way to treat yourself.
3. Use time blocks instead of to-do lists
This practice has been a game changer for many of my clients. While to-do lists can be useful, you can always add more to the bottom of the list without taking into account importance, urgency or time limitations.
Instead of listing tasks, use time blocks to allocate time in your calendar for each item based on realistic estimates. This forces you to confront how much can truly be done in a day or week.
After trying this process out for the first time, one of my clients told me:
“This system doesn’t work. I can’t fit everything into my calendar.”
“What does that tell you?” I asked.
“That I have more to do than I can achieve in the time I have.”
That realisation was a turning point, which allowed us to explore strategies like delegating, asking for help, and prioritising to create a more realistic workload.
Time blocking doesn’t just manage tasks, it helps you create a more honest, empowered relationship with time and priorities.
4. Strategic ‘procrastination’
Once you have plotted all your tasks into your calendar, just like my client, you will likely realise that there isn’t enough time to do everything you need to do.
The beauty of this process is that you now have a system that takes time into account, so you will have a more realistic view of what can and cannot get done within a certain time frame.
For those tasks, practice ‘strategic procrastination’. This means deliberately choosing to delay something, not out of avoidance or fear (as with traditional procrastination), but with awareness and intention.
Defer tasks that have low priority or urgency to next week, next month, or even next quarter!
I know this might be scary to begin with; we fear that unless we are constantly looking at the tasks we need to do, we might forget them. However, keeping those tasks that you cannot yet get to in your view takes energy and is a constant reminder of what’s missing.
Instead, let go of those tasks for now and allow your calendar to remind you when the right time comes.
5. Keep an achievement journal
If all of the above feels too convoluted, I have one simple action for you to start with: Keep an achievement journal!
A few years ago, I was working with a leader in tech who constantly felt behind and often experienced impostor syndrome and high levels of anxiety.
I suggested that she keep an achievement journal in the evening before bedtime. After a couple of weeks, her self-perception and experience shifted greatly. She no longer felt a sense of being an impostor or ‘not doing enough,’ and her levels of anxiety reduced significantly.
If this resonates, I invite you to start your own accomplishment journal this week.
The practice is simple:
List at least five things you have accomplished today. You can do that at the end of your workday or in the evening before going to bed.
Try it for seven days and notice what shifts. You might notice a shift in energy from spending time objectively acknowledging your efforts, and if you do this before bedtime, you might even sleep better.
You are likely doing more than you realise. I hope these practices help you to consciously acknowledge your efforts and progress. This shift in perception will likely lift your energy and motivation, not because anything outside you has changed but because you will be practising a more objective and compassionate perspective of yourself and everything you are doing.
As always, I’d love to hear from you, so feel free to comment and let me know which of these practices help you.
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