mechanism

Stuck is a starting problem, not a wanting problem. You know the move and you want the result, but initiation does not fire. Usually something is holding it: the step is too big, the first action is undefined, or there is a cost you have not admitted — and the mind quietly keeps you away from the edge.

not to confuse with

bored: nothing pulls, here it does · empty: wanting itself is idle · frustrated: you are pushing and it will not move — here you are not pushing at all · anxious: the block is fear of an outcome, and it is namable

in the body

heaviness before starting, sudden interest in anything else, the task looking bigger every hour you do not touch it

feel it

Do not read this as laziness — that reading adds weight without adding motion. Something is holding the start, and it is usually specific.

what to do

Make the first step embarrassingly small — the version you could do in two minutes without preparing — and do that. If the block is a cost you have not admitted, name it out loud: it stops working the moment it is visible.

don't

no motivating speeches to yourself: motivation follows motion, not the other way round · do not plan the whole thing again — planning is the favourite hiding place · do not schedule it for a better day

if you do nothing

The task grows in the dark. Every day untouched adds weight, and the weight becomes evidence that you are the kind of person who does not do it — which makes starting even more expensive tomorrow.

after

what unlocked it is worth writing down — the same key usually works again · if the same task sticks for weeks, the block is a cost, not a schedule problem

your track

7 episodes · median 5 → 2 · usual block: undefined first step · best tool: two-minute version ✓4

keys

0–9 set the scale · enter = next step · d = tool done · esc = close dialogs

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