A stalled project is usually one of a handful of problems that feel alike from the inside, and their repairs run in different directions. Find the kind first, then the repair.
| What it looks like | The kind | First move |
|---|---|---|
| You know the next task and keep tidying everything around it | Fear | Do it badly, in one session, and let the result be rough |
| You open the project and cannot tell where to begin | Too big | Break the next task into pieces of twenty minutes each, and do the first |
| You cannot say what the project is for any more | The shape is lost | Reread the Project brief and rewrite the finish line in one sentence |
| Every session goes on fixing what is already done | Polishing | New work only this session; write the fixes down as Later tasks |
| The fix you found means redoing a large part of the work | The expensive fix | Write it down with a cheaper version, and carry on as though it were made |
| Another project keeps pulling at you | Two projects in one | Add the other one to Projects as Considering, and return to this one |
| Flat at the desk and away from it | Depletion | Fifteen minutes or a session note, then stop. File nothing as failure |
| Back after a gap, and the project is cold | A gap | Coming back, below |
If two fit, choose the one you would least like it to be. One condition is no stall at all: if the project keeps surfacing while you are doing other things, it is incubating. Put what surfaces in the Inbox, and let it come.