If you can’t win the game they’re playing, ask whether you even need to play it.

Some contests are shaped against you rather than lost through effort. You can be the hardest worker in a competition whose scoring rewards somebody else’s advantages and still finish behind. Noticing that is not giving up, it is checking whether the prize is one you wanted and whether this is the only route to it. A lot of games get entered by default.

Take something you are currently losing at and ask what winning would actually get you. If the honest answer is not much, put those hours elsewhere. If it does matter, look for a second route rather than a harder run at the same wall.