Work & careers
spin your wheels
waste effort without progress
If you spin your wheels, you spend time and effort but do not get closer to achieving something.
Hear it in real life
Have you made any progress with the complaint?
No, I'm still spinning my wheels.
I've spent two hours changing the spreadsheet, but I'm just spinning my wheels.
The mistake everyone makes
Not: I'm spinning my wheel on this problem.
Say: I'm spinning my wheels on this problem.
Learners may make the idiom singular, but its conventional form uses plural “wheels.”
Build it
How it fits in a sentence.
spin your wheels; be spinning your wheels; keep spinning your wheels
Your turn: say it out loud
I've spent two hours changing the spreadsheet, but I'm just spinning my wheels.
Say it out loud two or three times, until it feels like yours.
spin your wheels
waste effort without progress
“I've spent two hours changing the spreadsheet, but I'm just spinning my wheels.”
heytardy
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