One important thing to keep in mind is that progress doesn't always feel like progress. Trying something that turns out not to work might feel like a waste of time, but it's actually progress: now you know this doesn't work and you can try something else that is more likely to work. As long as you remember what didn't work and don't end up in loops where you keep trying the same non-working thing over and over again (which is harder than it sounds) you will sooner or later get it to work.
