Some obstacles need more pressure; others need a different angle.

Two obstacles can look identical and need opposite responses. One is genuinely a matter of force, where persisting is exactly right. The other will never yield to pressure and requires going around, coming at it differently, or waiting. Treating everything as the first kind is the more common error, and it is expensive.

When you are stuck, ask whether anything has moved at all under the pressure you have already applied. If there has been no movement whatsoever, that is usually your signal for a different angle rather than more of the same. Try one alternative approach before doubling the effort.