When stuck, write about the stuckness — resolution often…
When stuck on a problem, write about being stuck by describing the problem, what you've tried, what you expected versus what happened, as the narrative structure itself often produces resolution by the third paragraph.
When This Fires
- You've been stuck on a problem for more than 20 minutes with no progress
- You've tried the same approaches multiple times without success
- You're about to ask someone for help (write about the stuckness first — you'll often solve it)
- Any situation where confusion persists despite active effort
Common Failure Mode
Writing about the problem at a high level without being specific. "I'm stuck on the authentication flow" doesn't force enough structure. "I expected the token refresh to return a new access token, but instead it returns a 401 with the message 'session expired,' even though the refresh token hasn't expired according to the timestamp" — that level of specificity is where the writing produces insight.
The Protocol
When stuck: (1) Write paragraph one: "The problem is [precise description]." (2) Write paragraph two: "I've tried [specific approaches]. I expected [X] but got [Y]." (3) Write paragraph three: "The gap between my expectation and reality might be because..." (4) If you solve it during writing — most people do by paragraph three — you've just experienced writing-as-thinking. If you don't, you now have a precisely structured problem description that makes asking for help dramatically more effective.