Thoughts are mightier than strength of hand.

Most contests are decided before anyone exerts themselves. Whoever has thought about where this is going, what the other side actually wants, and what happens after the win needs less force to get there. Effort applied without thought is simply expensive.

Before pushing harder on whatever is stuck, give it twenty quiet minutes with a pen. Write down what you are really trying to achieve, what is genuinely blocking it, and what you have not yet tried. The answer is more often a change of approach than an increase in pressure.