Why does my job's red tape make me feel powerless?

You did not fail to learn the rules. You are standing in a system that feels larger than your own will, and it has convinced you that you have no say. That is the real problem — not the forms, not the approvals, not the person above you who signs off on things. It is the quiet belief that you move only when permitted to move. Look at what is actually yours. You cannot rewrite the chain of command tonight. You cannot delete the paperwork. But you can choose how you walk into the next meeting, what you say in the next email, which task you finish before you check your phone again. That is not a small thing. That is the only thing. Stop waiting to feel in control before you act like it. Act first, in the narrow space you do have, and the feeling will follow or it will not — either way, the work gets done, and you remain a person who chooses, not a cog who waits.