What to Do When You Know What to Do But Keep Not Doing It

A client came to me with a problem.

She had a brilliant business plan. Clear positioning. Solid pricing. A content strategy that made perfect sense. She knew exactly what she needed to do.

She just wasn't doing any of it.

Not because she was lazy. Not because she didn't have time. She'd somehow find three hours to reorganise her entire Notion workspace but couldn't find twenty minutes to email the prospect who'd asked for her pricing.

"I don't know what's wrong with me," she said. "I just need accountability."

Except that wasn't it.

This isn't procrastination. It's self-sabotage.

And the difference matters.

Procrastination is avoiding something unpleasant. You don't want to do your tax return, so you put it off. You don't enjoy cold emailing, so you find other tasks.

Self-sabotage is avoiding something that would actually help you. You know sending that proposal would likely get you the client. You just... don't send it.

You know posting consistently would build your audience. You delete the draft instead.

You know raising your prices would solve your revenue problem. You keep offering discounts.

That's not procrastination. That's actively undermining your own progress.

And it's far more common than people think.

What self-sabotage actually looks like

It doesn't announce itself. You don't wake up thinking "today I'll sabotage my business."

It shows up as:

Creating problems that don't exist so you have to solve them instead of doing the actual work. Suddenly your website needs a complete redesign. Your email platform needs migrating. Your brand colours aren't quite right.

Perfectionism that never lets anything ship. The sales page isn't ready. The offer isn't clear enough. The positioning needs more work. It's been ready for three months. You just keep finding reasons it's not.

Saying yes to things that derail your actual priorities. A client project that's not quite right. A collaboration that doesn't serve your business. Anything that gives you a reason to not do the thing you know you should do.

Starting over instead of finishing. New business model. New niche. New offer. The pattern repeats – you get 80% of the way there and then blow it up.

I had a client who rewrote her website homepage more times than I can list, in two months. It wasn't that the copy was bad. It was that publishing it would mean she'd have to start selling properly. And if she started selling and it didn't work, she'd have to face whether the business model actually made sense.

Easier to keep rewriting.

Why smart people sabotage themselves

Because implementing forces you to find out if it works.

And what if it doesn't?

As long as you don't launch the thing, send the email, make the offer, raise the prices – you don't have to know. You can stay in the safe space of "I haven't tried yet" rather than "I tried and it failed."

The strategy sitting in your Google Drive can be brilliant forever. The moment you execute it, you'll find out if it's actually any good.

That's terrifying.

So you keep tweaking. Keep planning. Keep reorganising. Keep finding reasons why now isn't quite the right time.

Not because you're scared of the work. Because you're scared of the answer.

The pattern I see constantly

Someone hires me because they can't get traction. We work out what's wrong. I give them a clear action plan.

Then they don't do it.

They'll say "I don't know why I'm stuck" while actively choosing not to do the thing that would unstick them.

And when I point it out? There's always a reason.

"I need to fix my branding first."

"I'm waiting until after this client project."

"I want to get the messaging exactly right."

All valid-sounding. None of them true.

What's actually happening: doing the thing would force them to confront something they're not ready to face.

Whether their pricing is too low and they've been undervaluing themselves for years.

Whether their offer actually solves a problem people will pay for.

Whether they're any good at this.

Whether leaving their corporate job to start this business was the right call.

Not doing the thing protects them from finding out.

So what actually helps?

Not more strategy. You already know what to do.

Not more accountability. Someone checking in won't fix this.

What helps is figuring out what you're protecting yourself from by not doing it.

Ask: What would happen if I actually did this and it worked?

Not just "that would be great." Really think about it. If you raised your prices and clients said yes, what would that mean? Maybe that you've been undercharging for years and left money on the table. Maybe that you're actually good at this and can't use "I'm still figuring it out" as a safety net anymore.

Sometimes success is scarier than failure.

Then ask: What would happen if I did this and it didn't work?

If you launched the offer and no one bought it, what would that mean? That the business model doesn't work? That you need to pivot? That you wasted time?

Or just that this specific thing didn't land and you need to adjust?

Most people are avoiding the first scenario, not the second. They're not scared of failure. They're scared of what failure would confirm about something they already suspect.

Here's what changed for the client who kept rewriting her homepage:

I asked what would happen if she published it and no one bought.

She said: "Then I'd know the offer doesn't work and I've wasted a year building the wrong thing."

There it was. She wasn't perfecting the copy. She was avoiding finding out if the offer was viable.

We published the homepage that week. Three people bought in the first month.

Not because the copy was finally perfect. Because she stopped using it as a way to avoid the real question.

The uncomfortable truth

You can know exactly what to do and still not do it.

Not because you're lazy. Not because you lack discipline. Not because you need better systems.

Because doing it would force you to find out something you're not ready to know.

And until you're willing to face that, no amount of planning or strategy or accountability will make you implement.

If this sounds familiar

If you've got a clear plan you're not executing.

If you keep finding reasons why now isn't the right time.

If you're reorganising, rewriting, or redesigning instead of shipping.

The question isn't "what should I do?"

It's "what am I avoiding finding out?"

Here's how we could work together:

One-off mentoring session (£325): 90 minutes where we figure out what you're actually avoiding by not implementing. Usually it's not about the tactics. It's about what you're protecting yourself from knowing. Book a session

Ongoing mentorship: Monthly support for founders who need someone to spot when they're creating busy work to avoid doing the thing that matters. Pattern-spotting for self-sabotage you can't see in yourself. Learn more about mentorship

Because the hardest thing about self-sabotage isn't that you're doing it.

It's that you genuinely don't realise you are.