What do you do when you keep trading but cannot get any traction?

These periods are pure frustration. Sometimes it takes too many tries, and I still don't know how to avoid some of the chop. What I can do is scale down or trade less when my equity curve isn't making higher highs, or starts making lower highs and lower lows. Maybe it's time to slow down. I don't have a really good solution for this type of market.