Learn English – “when you do something” or “when you are doing something”

Whenever a past participle like "geared", "called" or any other is found after the verb "be" or similar copulative verbs, that is, verbs whose only purpose is to link the subject and the predicate (other copulative verbs are "seem", "appear", "become" -- for a more complete list, see here), we are faced with two possibilities:

1. The past participle indicates that the sentence is in the passive voice, that is, that what seems to be the subject is actually the object of an action performed by somebody or something else. This is the case with "A court is called upon to enforce a contract": the implication here is that the parties to the contract call upon (ask) the court to enforce the contract. "The parties to the contract" is the subject in the active voice and may, or may not, appear as the agent in the passive voice (in this case, it does not appear, because it is deemed to be implicit and saying "...is called upon by the parties to the contract" would be redundant). The main point here is that "is called upon" expresses an action.

2. The past participle has adjectival value. This is the case with "geared". In "This strategy is geared toward developing your compassion" (a similar case would be "This strategy is aimed at developing your compassion"), "is geared ..." expresses a state. The subject is not the object of an action done by somebody else.

In some cases, the same past participle may express an action (passive meaning) or a state (adjectival meaning). The right interpretation will depend on the context. Please compare:

• The window was broken during the attack. (Here, "was broken" is indicative of an action: someone broke the window during the attack.) In this case, "was broken" is the passive form of the verb in the simple past "broke".

• The window was broken and we had to move to another room because it was too cold in there. (Here, reference is being made to the broken condition of the window.) In this case, "was broken" is a verb phrase composed by the main verb "was" and the adjectival "broken".

When native speakers say

I'm always {doing something}....

it's as if they're gently berating themselves that they persist in making the same error or slip-up.

I'm always misplacing my car keys!

I'm always forgetting my wallet!

I'm always mistaking him for his older brother!

Those are things you find yourself doing again and again. Such statements are an exclamation, more or less.

You can express a similar idea with simple present.

I always misplace my car keys!

but for many speakers the simple present wouldn't be as gentle and forgiving as the continuous, and there would be a little tinge of angry frustration in the statement.

What would NOT be idiomatic is to use the present continuous to refer to your standard (volitional/intentional) practice:

I am always eating lunch at that restaurant because it's close to my office. ^{not idiomatic}