At such moments, conversational-style journaling helps unpack the source of the unease. You’d expect that the act of journaling would offer easy access to the things in mind feeding the discomfort and demanding attention. But in moments of overwhelm, in the grip of decision fatigue, those very things demanding attention can feel ungraspable. What remains resolutely clear is the lack of knowledge of what to do. 

And while that might invite bewilderment—How can I not know what to do when I have a master task list, a calendar, a whole-ass productivity system?—leaning into that disbelief deepens the fog. You reach for clarity, but what is delivered is nothing: more bewilderment and more pressure—leaving the gates open for engagement in unproductive rumination. 

The better move? 

Accept that, in such moments, you really don’t know what to do. What this does, at the very least, is lessen the sense of pressure. You cease to be (or see yourself as) the person who knows what to do and this opens you up to receiving knowledge that might lead you towards what to do. 

This is re-orientation. A reset. A settling with the reality that who you were yesterday—the one who made the lists, laid the plans—might not be the same person who now sits before a new moment, looking for an entry point. (That past one may have had direct access to God and this current one may be recovering from a bad case of malaria.) 

But here’s the gift: The version of you with access to thinking and a journal and is now open to receiving knowledge can look to those with knowledge—even if one of those ones with knowledge might just be a previous or idealized version of you. 

Here how you might respond: 

1. Start from a place of "I don't know" AND look to the suggestion of the version of you who knew (or knows). 
2. The version of you who knew or knows may point you to a "Important things" or "Things to focus on" or "Things disturbing me" list. Open the list.
3. The list probably holds 5 - 10 suggestions of what to do. (Your problem of "don't know what to do" has been solved. And the actual problem of deciding what to do reveals itself.)
4. If deciding what to is so difficult (perhaps because decision fatigue is at play or moving the pieces of your time-block feels a bit too complicated), use this heuristic to keep things simple (taking that the list of tasks is sorted alphabetically or by priority). Ask: 
   1.  In the past week, has time covered this task? 
      1.  If yes, move to next task. 
      2.  If no, do task (and keep in mind that that task is the "what to do" until its complete or at least 90minutes of the week has been devoted to it). 
5.  You might come upon a task on your list, say "Apply for a job" and find yourself recoil (from shear dread) at the prospect of applying effort to the task. What you want to do at such moments is narrow your attention not at the effort required for the completion of the task but at the completion of the enablers that bring the completion of the tasks into effect. Enablers by definition are micro-actions that unravel the continuation of a task. In the face of a task on your list, it could be:
   1. Tap task timer to trigger countdown
   2. Open task protocol to/and execute/develop protocol 

The thing to take away is this: When you find yourself tangled in that familiar fog—unsure of what to do, and weighed down by the belief that nothing will get done—the first step is not to push harder. The first step is to raise your awareness of your situation.

Accept that you don’t know what to do right now. Accept that the clarity you once had might be temporarily inaccessible. Then lean on what remains: your system, your lists, your past self, and your capacity to begin from small enablers. 

The point isn’t to feel ready. The point is to re-engage. 

Let the act of opening your “Important Things” list be the first reclaiming of continuity. Let the timer be a signal—not just to begin—but to interrupt the chaos. Let the first enabler (even if it’s just opening a doc or writing one sentence) be a testament that you can return. That you are doing, and what needs to get done will get done.