By Dr. Harry Akinola | October 2026
At some point, many of us reach a difficult place.
We are working hard, but the results are not improving.
We are committed, but we are not making progress.
We are still pushing, but somewhere inside us, we already know that something is not working.
So let me start with a question:
What are you still pushing that you already know the answer to?
What is one thing you have been pushing for longer than you would like to admit?
Is it a business?
A role?
A calling?
A dream?
Something you announced publicly and now feel quietly embarrassed about because it has not turned out the way you expected?
Many people talk about pivoting, but they hardly pivot.
We talk about changing direction, but we continue using the same approach. We talk about scaling, but we try to multiply systems that are already draining us.
And when something is not working, we often ask only two questions:
- Should I keep going?
- Should I let it go?
But those are not the only choices.
There are five possible moves.
The Five Moves When You Feel Stuck
When you are stuck, you may need to:
- Try again
- Try more
- Try different
- Try new
- Stop
The challenge is knowing which one your situation requires.
Because if you cannot tell a rough patch from a dead end, you may quit good things too early. You may also double down on things you should have stopped.
If effort has become your only strategy, you may continue working harder without moving forward.
And if you believe that stopping means failing, fear may quietly make the decision for you.
The Three Lies That Keep Smart People Stuck
There are three statements that often sound like resilience but can keep people trapped for years.
1. “Just One More Push”
Sometimes one more push is exactly what is required.
But it cannot be your strategy forever.
If you said “one more push” in the second year and you are still saying the same thing in the seventh year, then you may no longer need one more push.
You may need a new approach.
The question is not simply, “Can I push harder?”
The better question is:
Is this still working, or am I using more effort to avoid making a decision?
2. “Quitters Never Win”
This statement is powerful because many of us were raised to believe it.
Endurance has a place. It builds skill. It builds capacity. It develops character.
But endurance without discernment is just expensive stubbornness.
You can become very good at enduring while continuing in the wrong direction.
Resilience is not stubbornness.
Resilience requires the ability to know when to continue, when to change your approach and when to stop.
3. “I Have Come Too Far to Stop”
This is the sunk cost lie.
You think about the money, years, time and reputation you have already invested.
But what has already been spent is gone.
Investing another five years will not recover the five years you spent doing the wrong thing.
The fact that you have travelled a long distance does not automatically mean you are going in the right direction.
Sometimes, you have not failed.
You have simply reached the limit of the current approach.
Effort Is Not the Only Variable
When people feel stuck, they often consider only one variable: effort.
They ask:
- How many more hours can I put in?
- How much more pressure can I apply?
- How much more consistency can I produce?
- How much more intensity can I bring?
But people who achieve better results consider another variable: approach.
Think of effort on one axis and a new approach on another.
Many people keep increasing effort while staying in the same approach. They keep moving in the same direction and simply apply more pressure.
But sometimes the thing you need is not more effort.
Sometimes you need a new approach.
Luke 14:28 reminds us to count the cost. If you are going to stay with something, scale it, change it or leave it, you need to consider the cost carefully.
The Four Trials Framework
The first four moves help you understand what to do when the goal or problem still matters, but your current results are not where they should be.
1. Try Again: Re-execute Properly
Try again when the idea is right, but the execution was not good enough.
You know the idea can work. The evidence suggests that the opportunity is real. But you did not execute properly from start to finish.
In that case, you may not need a new idea.
You need to run the same idea again with greater precision and excellence.
The move is to re-execute.
2. Try More: Scale What Is Working
Try more when the path is right but underfed.
You have something that is working. People are responding to it. There is evidence of demand. But you have not generated enough volume, consistency or intensity.
That is the principle of scaling.
You add more of what is already producing results.
The move is to scale.
3. Try Different: Change the Strategy
Try different when you are moving but have reached a ceiling.
The goal may still be right, but the current route is no longer taking you forward.
You may need a fresh strategy to unlock the next level.
You are keeping the destination, but changing the route.
The move is to shift.
4. Try New: Pivot Completely
Try new when the old way is broken.
There was a time when people rented movies from physical stores. The market changed. Movies became available through phones, computers and on-demand platforms.
A business could not insist that the old model must continue simply because it worked in the past.
When the old way is broken, you need to pivot.
You keep the why, but you replace the how entirely.
The move is to pivot.
And there is a fifth move that is not on the chart.
5. Stop: Release What No Longer Aligns
Stopping is different from the four moves above.
You stop when the goal no longer aligns with your values, purpose, or the person you are becoming.
Stopping is not a strategy. It is a decision.
When Should You Scale a Business?
You should not scale simply because you are excited.
You should not scale because you are tired of waiting.
You should scale when the evidence shows that you have earned the right to do more.
There are five signals to look for.
1. Repeatability
It has worked more than once, and you can explain why it worked.
One good month may be luck.
Three good results are a pattern.
If every time you put a product into a particular market people respond positively, that may be an indication that you should scale.
2. Economics
Each extra unit of effort should return more than it costs.
If your effort increases but your return remains flat, you may not need to scale. You may need to try something different.
Scaling requires healthy economics.
You need to know that additional effort is producing additional value.
3. Pull, Not Push
When people ask for more without you constantly chasing them, that is a signal.
There is a reason people keep coming to you for counsel. There is a reason people ask for your advice, product or service.
Pull is an indication that there may be an opportunity to scale.
Scale can amplify pull, but it cannot manufacture it.
If there is no demand, increasing your effort does not automatically create demand.
4. Capacity
Your system must be able to survive increased volume without destroying you.
Can your systems handle three times the volume you are currently receiving?
Do you have enough capacity in your operations, team, production, delivery and sales channels?
Scaling something that your system cannot support will create a bigger problem.
5. Energy
The work must return the same or a higher level of energy when you scale.
Scaling multiplies whatever is already there, including the drain.
If the work is already depleting you at a small level, multiplying it may simply deplete you faster.
Ask yourself:
Would I want ten times more of exactly what I have today?
If the answer is yes, you may be ready to scale.
But if it is breaking you at one, it will not fix itself at one hundred.
When Should You Pivot?
Pivoting means keeping the why while changing the how.
The why is the problem you exist to solve.
The why is not necessarily your product, job title, position or current business model.
The product is the how.
The model is the how.
The market, method and medium are also part of the how.
If the problem still matters to you, you may not need to abandon the problem. You may need to change how you are solving it.
You need to be loyal to the why, but honest about the how.
There are four signals that it may be time to pivot.
1. Repetition Will Not Fix It
You have executed cleanly, but you continue to get the same unwanted result.
This is not an execution problem anymore.
It may be a design problem.
Repeating the same thing will not solve it.
2. The Market Moved but You Did Not
The world you built your plan for may no longer exist.
Technology changes. Customer expectations change. Business models change. The way people learn, buy, work and communicate changes.
If the market has moved and you have not, your plan may need to move too.
3. Your Ceiling Is Structural
Sometimes you have done everything the current model can produce.
You have reached the ceiling.
This does not necessarily mean you are failing. It may mean the structure itself cannot take you any further.
I once spoke with an Uber driver who was around seventy years old. As he described his experience, I realised that he had knowledge and capability that could be valuable to companies in project management.
He had not stopped being intelligent.
He had reached a structural ceiling and needed to reposition what he knew.
Sometimes, the next level is not found by doing more of the same thing. It is found by using what you know in a new vehicle.
4. Your Energy Dies in the Method
You still feel alive when you talk about the mission.
You still light up when you talk about the dream.
You still believe in the vision.
But when you talk about how you are pursuing it, you feel drained.
That may be a signal that the mission is still right but the method needs to change.
Changing how you do it is not the same as giving up on why you started.
When Should You Stop?
There is a time to keep and a time to cast away.
You are in control of many of the things you keep doing and the things you stop doing.
Stopping is not the same as quitting.
Quitting is abandoning something because it became difficult.
Stopping is releasing something because it stopped being true.
Sometimes you have become someone else.
The goal belonged to a previous version of you, but it no longer belongs to the person you are becoming.
I have personally stepped away from an opportunity worth well above $50,000. It was not an easy decision, but I did not feel grief.
I felt relief.
That relief told me something.
The opportunity had ended for me before I officially walked away from it.
Four Questions to Ask Before You Stop
1. Alignment
Does this goal still belong to the person I am becoming?
Or does it belong to the person I was when I set the goal?
2. Cost
What is this costing me that I cannot get back?
Is it costing me my health?
My marriage?
My presence with my children?
My relationships?
My peace?
3. Motive
Am I continuing because I still believe in the outcome?
Or am I continuing because stopping would mean admitting publicly that I was wrong?
Sometimes pride makes us hold on to decisions that no longer serve us.
Do not continue simply to save face.
4. The Relief Test
If I stopped today and nobody was watching, would I feel grief or relief?
If you feel grief, the goal may still matter to you. You may need to stay and change the how.
If you feel relief, it may be a sign that the thing ended a long time ago and you have been carrying it because you did not give yourself permission to put it down.
Some of what you are carrying ended a long time ago.
You have simply not given yourself permission to put it down.
What Should You Do Next?
Do not live with only a feeling.
Make a decision.
Write this down:
By [insert date], I will either scale, shift, pivot or stop [insert goal, project, business or commitment].
Then be specific.
Do not simply write, “I will change my business.”
Write:
- I will scale this product.
- I will change this strategy.
- I will pivot into this market.
The purpose of the Pivot or Scale Scorecard is to help you evaluate the evidence and make the right decision.
You can use it to consider:
- What is working?
- What is not working?
- What has been repeated?
- What is the cost?
- Where is the evidence?
- What is pulling people towards you?
- What has changed in the market?
- What is your energy telling you?
- Would you feel grief or relief if you stopped?
You can download the free Pivot or Scale Scorecard and Workbook here: https://gumroad.com/l/gmwvk
Access code: ULTRASHIFT
Commit to the destination but remain flexible about the route.
I am rooting for you to make the right move.
Dr. Harry Akinola