If It Works, Keep Doing It

It’s a strange thing. But one that I’ve seen over and over again in myself and others.

The moment you find an approach that really works… That delivers the results you’ve been lusting after…

You stop using it.

If your first instinct is to deny this then you’re in good company. Most people I know respond like that. And it was my reaction too originally.

And that’s precisely why this phenomenon is so dangerous…

It’s immediately obvious that it would be a really stupid mistake to stop doing the exact things that were responsible for your success. So people naturally assume that they’d never do something that ridiculous. And they move on without giving this any further thought.

Humour me for now, and assume I’ve got this right (we’ll look at how and why it happens later).

It means we’re in a situation where…

First you fail to even notice the mistake you’ve made. Then, as a consequence, you do nothing to fix it.

So, ultimately, you drop back to where you started. And you’re left baffled and angry as to why success tragically slipped from your grasp.

It would be be farcical if it wasn’t so depressing. Because all it would take to get back to unicorns and rainbows again is for you to start doing the thing you stopped.

But you choose not to.

If you’ve ever been to the pantomime and yelled “He’s behind you!” at the hapless actor onstage then it’s like that.

Except you’re the one who’s oblivious to the obvious solution. You’re the architect of your own unnecessary downfall.

Ouch!



Now we’ve seen just how damaging this could be, let’s confirm whether it’s really happening or not.

I want you to take the time to think back. Search your memory for any areas where you might have done this (and suffered as a result).

I think you’ll be shocked by what you find.

To help you get started, here’s a (very incomplete) list of some of the areas where I’ve made this mistake myself:

Pre-performance routines

I’d run through a simple set of actions before playing my guitar at gigs and jam sessions. The routine only took 30 seconds or so, but it massively improved the results I got and how much I enjoyed performing.

Once I was consistently playing well I assumed I “had it” now. So I stopped using the pre-performance routine.

Things dropped off pretty soon after that. I’m ashamed to admit that it took me a long time to work out what had gone wrong…

Tennis cues

I discovered a couple of ‘cues’ that helped me hit great forehands when I focused on them (and nothing else). This was great, but I wanted to add in more levels of sophistication to my playing.

So once my forehands were consistently strong, I assumed “I’d just got it now” — and I swapped out the cues for other ones.

I got very frustrated after this because I wasn’t playing as well and couldn’t work out what the problem was…

Regular exercises

After picking up a bit of an injury I started doing regular leg exercises to build up the muscles that would stop something similar happening again.

Once everything had been fine for months and I felt great, I assumed I was totally ‘fixed’ now. So I stopped doing the exercises.

A bit later I picked up a worse knee injury that stopped me doing any exercise for more than two months…


I could go on and on with similar examples. But you get the idea.

You may have spotted a recurring theme in that list of my past mistakes. It’s something that gives us a big clue into what’s going on here.

Whatever the context was, I eventually decided “I’d got it” and so I didn’t need the system any more.

The problem is that I didn’t have it. So as soon as I decided I wasn’t going to use the system anymore then of course things were going to go rapidly downhill.

So why take such a crazy decision?

Simply put, because I was lying to myself about what was responsible for my success. I persuaded myself it was all me – and nothing to do with the system at all.

It turns out there are two reasons why we naturally choose to lie to ourselves like this. Over and over again.

The surface reason is pure laziness.

We’re all looking for the ‘magic fix’ that will sort things out forever so you never have to think about the problem again.

But, unfortunately, the thing that’s bringing you success doesn’t work like that. You’ve got to go through the process… or work the system… every time. Fix things with your own time and effort over and over again. Day after day.

The thought that this is a task without end — something you’ll have to do for the rest of your life — is a reality you’d rather not face.

So the easier option is to pretend to yourself that you can get around it. That you can stop doing the thing that works and that everything will still be ok.

If you tell yourself “I’ve got it now” then you’re free to move on and ditch the tedious and effortful ongoing work.

So that’s exactly what you do.


It would be a bad enough situation if that was the only thing that was getting in the way.

But there’s something more fundamental, less obvious, and more powerful going on here. This is what’s really at the root.

It’s arrogance (or insecurity – depending on what side you want to look at it from).

You don’t want to have to attribute your success to something else. You want to be able to claim all the glory for yourself.

And it’s painful to admit to yourself that you’re flawed. You want to be be able to legitimately declare yourself ‘fixed’ so that you can claim to be perfect (or close to it).

When you stick with the process you’re not only admitting that you’re not ‘fixed’. You’re accepting that you’ll never be perfect.

When you stick with the process that gets you results, it’s as though it’s constantly whispering in your ear: “You need me. You’re not strong enough to do this on your own”

And your ego really doesn’t like this.

It wants to feel like it can claim credit for everything more than it wants outstanding results for their own sake. So it will tell you to drop the process even though that action is disastrous.

Denying reality like this is never a good decision. But your ego still deliberately makes that choice. Because the pain of the bad outcomes you get is less than the pain of admitting that you’re not the type of person you wish you could be.

The ironic thing is that your ego thinks it’s acting like a ‘strong’ person would.

But true strength isn’t about the ability to go it completely alone.

True strength asks for help when it’s needed. True strength admits when it can’t do it alone. True strength faces up to reality and acknowledges areas of weakness.


So far we’ve learned to understand why this happens. That’s hugely useful.

It explains that you’re always going to be tempted to stop using things that work. So you know you’ve always got to be on the lookout for self-sabotage in this area. You’ve hopefully been disabused of the idea that you might somehow rise above this and stop being tempted to make this mistake.

But we still need to know how to deal with the problem when we see it arising.

Here’s one idea that you might find helpful: choose to double down.

Whenever you find yourself tempted to drop the systems and processes that have been giving you success… Whenever you’re tempted to feel you’re above them… Go in the opposite direction instead.

Maybe that means doing them twice as frequently. Maybe you’ll do them with extra intensity. See what makes sense for you.

But, this way, the tendency to mess things up will actually act as a trigger for you to do more of what works. It’s a lovely way to turn a potential hazard into a strength.

Leave a Comment