The Problem That Keeps Coming Back

A 5-minute reflection: not on the problem - on the thinking that keeps it alive.

Some problems don't keep coming back because they're unsolvable. They come back because our thinking about them comes back - the same loop, day in, day out. This reflection breaks the loop, using the strongest evidence there is: what you've already done.

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A reflection in four steps

Bring to mind a problem that keeps coming back - one you've genuinely tried to fix.

1 · The loop, today - the thought that runs every time this problem comes back

2 · Now think back - a problem in your PAST that once felt just as stuck, and that you genuinely moved

3 · What you did back then - not the whole story; the first real move you made at the time

4 · Now bring that move into today - take that same first step and translate it onto the problem in front of you now

The reflection back

You've moved harder than this

Notice what just happened. The loop says this is stuck. But you've just named a time you moved something every bit as stuck - so the missing ingredient was never capability; it was contact with the proof that you have it. The move that worked back then won't be identical now - but the instinct behind it transfers.

Your next move - what worked then, applied now

You are not short on capability. Your next move is already written above - in your own words.

The evidence behind this reflection

Why this works: self-efficacy is built from lived evidence, and you are holding more of it than you think. A few well-established ideas sit underneath the four steps:

The loop wears down agency. When the same thought runs unchecked, it quietly lowers your sense that you can act at all - and that belief, more than the problem, is often what's stuck.
Mastery is the strongest source of self-efficacy. Bandura found the most powerful way to rebuild “I can” isn't encouragement - it's direct evidence that you already have: a past success, deliberately recalled. That's step two.
Agency transfers. Naming what you did then, and the equivalent move now, carries the belief from a problem you solved to one you haven't - yet.
It's buildable, not fixed. Self-efficacy, hope and resilience behave like states, not fixed traits - they strengthen with use (psychological capital).

Drawn from self-efficacy theory and coaching psychology. Nothing you write here is collected or stored - it stays in your browser.

Go deeper - reading

Self-Efficacy: The Exercise of Control - Albert Bandura (1997)

Chatter: The Voice in Our Head - Ethan Kross (2021)

Mindset: The New Psychology of Success - Carol Dweck (2006)

References (APA 7)

Bandura, A. (1977). Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological Review, 84(2), 191–215.

Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. W. H. Freeman.

Luthans, F., Youssef, C. M., & Avolio, B. J. (2007). Psychological capital: Developing the human competitive edge. Oxford University Press.

Lazarus, R. S., & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, appraisal, and coping. Springer.

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A Flourishing Spark · From alexandra-riha.com · Published June 2026
© 2026 Alexandra Riha Coaching · coaching@alexandra-riha.com