What one phrase or idiom describes situations (see examples below), in which people funnel their efforts in the wrong direction?
A boy wants to have a cup of coffee, so he buys a notebook in a stationery store and starts writing 100 times on each page "A cup of coffee", hoping that he is going to get a cup of coffee in this way. However, he never bothers to go to the kitchen and see if he can simply prepare coffee for himself in the kitchen…
A band is going to have a concert tomorrow, but they are not ready yet – they still need to rehearse more. So, instead of rehearsing they simply try to re-arrange the chairs on which they are sitting, hoping that the proper arrangement of chairs will ensure their perfect performance on the next day.
A girl wants to learn how to swim. So she reads tons of books about swimming – how to build swimming pools, biographies of famous swimmers – yet she never even tries swimming by herself…
Best Answer
An option is trying to carry water in a sieve. As this book explains, it means:
That is, it means to do something futile. Examples of this phrase (in various wordings) in use are:
So, you could use this to describe the people. For example, you would say that
Or,
Another option is barking up the wrong tree, or:
However, this phrase has the connotation of being a bit more aggressive than the previous one. If you are judging the people who are doing the wrong thing, then you can definitely use this phrase. But, if you want to take more of a neutral tone, I would recommend the first phrase.