I Bought All the Right Tools... and Still Felt Stuck

I had one of those moments earlier this morning that made me stop and laugh at myself. (After I spent a rough 10 minutes thinking I was going crazy…)

I went a little too deep trying to track down a product I know I bought around Black Friday last year.

It was a GPT. I remember being excited about it. I remember thinking “this will be so helpful.”

…and then I completely forgot about it until this morning when for some reason, it came into my head.

But when I went looking for it?

I couldn’t remember:

• What it was called
• What it actually did
• Where I could find it

(I did remember who I bought it from…but when I searched for emails by that person’s name, I still couldn’t find the purchase!)

It took way longer than it should have…and while I was searching, I realized something kind of uncomfortable:

I’ve bought a lot of things with good intentions, and haven’t really used most of them.

Not because they were bad.
Not because I was careless.
Just because life moved on.

And honestly? I know I’m not alone in that.

When collecting starts to feel like progress

The problem isn’t that we’re buying the wrong things.

It’s that it’s so easy to slip into collecting solutions instead of using them.

We see something that promises:

• Clarity
• Ease
• Progress
• A better version of ourselves

And we think, “This will help.”

Sometimes it really would. (You know, if we actually slowed down and used it.)

That moment reminded me of something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately:

Progress doesn’t usually come from adding something new.
It comes from choosing one thing and actually doing something with it.

Even in a small way.
Especially in a small way.

The question I’m asking myself now

So instead of beating myself up, I’m trying a different approach:

Before buying (or starting) something new, I’m asking:

“Am I creating… or am I just collecting?”

If I’m creating: learning, applying, thinking, building. Great.
If I’m collecting: saving it “for later,” adding it to the pile….maybe it can wait.

That one question already feels like it’s giving me more breathing room.

We’re all figuring this out as we go.

This was a good reminder for me that progress doesn’t come from owning the “right” tools, it comes from actually using the ones we already have.

If you are in a creating season (not a collecting one)…

One thing I’m trying to be more intentional about right now is choosing tools that help me create something useful, not just add another idea to the pile.

This resource stood out to me because it’s about creating short, meaningful ebooks that help people make small mindset shifts… the same kind of shifts I was talking about above.

Not massive overhauls.
Not “fix your whole life” promises.
Just thoughtful prompts that guide someone toward clearer thinking and better decisions.

If you’ve ever wanted to create something that genuinely helps people, but didn’t want to start from a blank page, this might be worth a look.

Here’s the link, and they show you some of the actual prompts too!