# Break a Project You Keep Avoiding Into Three Tiny First Actions

> For the project you've put off for months: name the real blocker, define done, and get three sub-15-minute physical actions, the first startable right now.

- **Author:** [Wanjiru Kamau (@wanjiru_kamau)](https://promptabide.com/wanjiru_kamau)
- **Tested on:** Claude · Opus 5.5
- **You fill in:** `project`, `avoidance`, `time_available`
- **Published:** 2026-08-11
- **Updated:** 2026-09-24
- **Tags:** `productivity`, `personal-growth`, `decision-making`
- **Keywords:** how to start a project i keep avoiding, break a big task into tiny steps, procrastination prompt for chatgpt, first small step to beat procrastination, ai help getting started on overwhelming task
- **Views:** 2463
- **Likes:** 44

**Best for:** Anyone with a project stuck for weeks or months (taxes, portfolio, applications, a hard email) who needs momentum, not a bigger plan.

## Prompt

```
I've been avoiding a project. Help me start it, not plan it.

The project: {{project}}
How long I've been avoiding it, and what I think is stopping me: {{avoidance}}
Time I can realistically give it this week: {{time_available}}

Do this:
1. **The real blocker**: in 2-3 sentences, name what is more likely stopping me: unclear next step, fear of what I'll find, perfectionism, or a missing resource. Base it on what I wrote.
2. **Done looks like**: one sentence describing the finished project as something observable.
3. **Three tiny actions**, in order. Each must:
   - take under 15 minutes
   - start with a physical verb (open, write, call, put, send)
   - have a visible done state
   - require no decisions beyond the action itself
   The first must be doable in the next 10 minutes, wherever I am.
   Banned verbs: research, plan, think about, organize, review, figure out.
4. **After action 3**: the obvious fourth step, one line.
5. **If I stall**: one sentence I can tell myself, specific to this project. No motivational quotes.
```

## Variables

- `{{project}}` — The thing you keep not starting. (e.g. Sort two years of freelance receipts for my tax return)
- `{{avoidance}}` — How long you've avoided it and your honest guess at why. (e.g. 8 months. Every time I open the folder I feel sick and close it.)
- `{{time_available}}` — Realistic time this week. (e.g. About 3 hours across evenings)

## Example input

```
project: Sort out two years of freelance receipts and expenses so my accountant can file my tax return (deadline is 31 January).

avoidance: About 8 months. Receipts are split between a shoebox, my email, and photos on my phone. I think I've probably missed claiming things and might owe more than I think. Every time I open the folder I feel slightly sick and close it again.

time_available: About 3 hours this week, in evenings after 8pm.
```

## Output

*Produced by Claude · Opus 5.5.*

```
**1. The real blocker**
It isn't the sorting. It's fear of what the total will say. "Might owe more than I think" and "feel slightly sick" point to dread about a number, not confusion about the steps. The receipts sit in three places, so there's no single first move, which makes it easy to close the folder every time.

**2. Done looks like**
One folder, emailed to your accountant, with a spreadsheet listing every expense for both years and a matching receipt file or photo for each line.

**3. Three tiny actions**
1. **Write** "TAX, SEND TO ACCOUNTANT BY 15 DEC" on a sticky note and put it on the shoebox. *Done state:* the note is on the box. *(2 minutes, possible right now.)* Fifteen December gives your accountant six weeks before 31 January.
2. **Search** your email for "receipt OR invoice OR order confirmation" for the two tax years, and drag every result into a new label called "Tax". Don't open any of them. *Done state:* the label exists and has emails in it. *(15 minutes)*
3. **Photograph** the first 20 receipts from the shoebox with your phone's scan feature and save them to one album called "Tax receipts". Stop at 20 even if it's going well. *Done state:* an album with 20 images. *(15 minutes)*

After three evenings, every receipt is in one of two digital places and none of it depends on the shoebox.

**4. After action 3**
Email your accountant: "I'm gathering two years of receipts. What format do you want them in?" Their answer is the plan, and you don't have to design one.

**5. If I stall**
"Not knowing the number doesn't change it. It only shrinks the time left to deal with it."
```

## Why it works

Avoidance usually isn't laziness. It's a step that is too big, too vague or emotionally loaded. Step 1 makes the model **name the blocker** from your own words, and the **banned verbs** list removes exactly the fake-productive steps ("research", "organize", "review") that let you feel busy without starting.

Each action has four constraints: **under 15 minutes, physical verb, visible done state, no decisions**. Together they shrink the task below the threshold where dread kicks in. Making the first action doable "in the next 10 minutes, wherever I am" matters most, because starting is the whole problem. "No motivational quotes" keeps the last line useful.

## When not to use it

If the avoidance comes from something heavier, such as depression, burnout or a project you actually shouldn't do, tiny steps just delay the real conversation. For projects with legal or financial deadlines, the tiny actions get you moving, but you still need a real plan and professional help afterwards. If you avoid everything, not just one project, this won't fix that.

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