run (a)round in circles
To waste one's time and energy engaging in trivial, aimless, or futile activities. I tried to get an outline drafted for my thesis, but my ideas were so jumbled in my head that I just kept running round in circles. The committee spent all afternoon trying to come up with a new PR proposal, but they ran around in circles the whole time.
run round in circles
be fussily busy with little result. informalrun around in ˈcircles
(British English also run round in ˈcircles) (informal) be busy doing something without achieving anything important or making progress: He has a tendency to run around in circles getting more and more worked up.