Many problems are too difficult to solve in one go. To make progress on them - to Avoid getting stuck - one has to divide the problem into many smaller, simpler, easier ones. This is true of problem-solving in every domain, from AGI research to music and writing books.

If you don’t break the problem down, it may be needlessly difficult or painful to work on. It may even be so overwhelming you become stuck and make no progress at all.

Incidentally, breaking a problem down is creative (and fun!) and a special case of a more fundamental mental phenomenon: Minds divide the world into independent, interacting objects.

Examples

Break the writing process into small steps

Break the editing process into small steps

Write small, self-contained notes