Why starting is the hard part
Psychology calls it the intention-behaviour gap: having an intention only modestly changes what people actually do (Webb & Sheeran, 2006). Starting is the exact point where a plan has to turn into movement.
Russell Barkley, one of the best-known ADHD researchers, puts it this way: ADHD is less a problem of knowing what to do than of doing what you know, at the moment it counts. In the language of cognitive science, the right knowledge, skill or bodily readiness fails to become relevant right when it is needed (Vervaeke et al., 2012).
I can genuinely want to do something, have chosen to do it, and still be completely frozen. Like something inside just refuses to fire.
How someone in an ADHD community described it (paraphrased)
Which kind of stuck is it?
A useful way to sort getting stuck is by what is actually missing in the moment. It builds on the cognitive scientist John Vervaeke's four ways of knowing, plus the body underneath them (Beyköylü et al., 2025). Each layer rests on the one below, so the deeper the layer that is stuck, the less a fix from a higher layer will do:
- Body
- Tired, wired, overloaded or flat. The body is not ready, so nothing looks doable.
- Caring
- The task feels pointless or far away from anything you care about.
- How it looks right now
- The task looks huge, vague or threatening from where you are standing.
- How to do it
- You have no first move. You know the goal, not the step.
- What to do
- You are missing a fact: what, when or where.
Nine things people use to get started
A reminder fixes only the last one. If you are stuck lower down, start there: settle the body, find the reason, or shrink how the task looks, before you look for more information.
These come from my analysis of how people describe getting unstuck in their own words. Pick the one that matches your kind of stuck:
- Make it embarrassingly small
- Commit to five or ten minutes with real permission to stop. "Having the option to stop is what makes starting possible."
- Only prepare
- Get the materials out or open the document, with no plan to do more.
- Count down
- Count from five to one out loud and move on one. Many people say the body just goes.
- Do it badly on purpose
- Choose a bad version over none. A rough draft beats a blank page.
- Ask "what if I start?"
- Turn "I can't start" into open questions: what happens if I do, what do I lose by waiting?
- Move first
- A short walk, shaking out your arms or one song can change what feels possible.
- Find the reason
- Some people cannot start without a clear personal "why". Say it out loud before the first step.
- Borrow someone's presence
- Body doubling: work next to someone, on a call or in the same room.
- Start sideways
- Do a smaller task right next to the real one and let the momentum carry over.
How Grip helps
Grip shows up on your widget just before a task with one of these ways in, picked for the kind of stuck you tend to have, and learns from what you rate as helpful.