The feeling of "being behind" is probably mostly anxiety or jealousy. Clearly many people are led astray by those feelings. It can blind a person from what is a

The feeling of "being behind" is probably mostly anxiety or jealousy. Clearly many people are led astray by those feelings. It can blind a person from what is actually in front of them because they're stuck imagining where they're not. Maybe they've been highly successful following the "pro-forma" until they fail to realize they're in a novel situation and make a critical mistake applying the "pro-forma" solution.