[SomeCallMeTim]

Trello and writing a line are great; I have one extra comment about the line.

Instead of just "not finishing" something, I will do a minor brain dump of what I'm trying to accomplish into a comment or a Trello item in the details field.

Usually when I'm stopping it's because there's a thing that isn't easy to finish, and I've done a lot of thinking about how to finish, but don't have the time to do it. So I write down all of my thoughts on the topic -- sometimes it can run to several paragraphs and sometimes a table or two.

But the next time I pick it back up, I can totally get back into the right mental space quickly. The best part? After a break, even if I have a plan outlined in the comment, I often can immediately see a better solution than the one I was working toward.

On a related point I've been keeping a journal with similar notes in it; I've found this to be extremely helpful for thinking through problems. You've heard of explaining your problem to a rubber duck? Having to not only put the problem into words, but writing those words down, is a great way to get the brain churning -- and a great way to leave a map for yourself later to get back into a project.

[Klathmon]

I can second this. It's like rubber duck debugging but "past you" is explaining it to "future you" who is in a different mindset.

Most of my biggest breakthroughs have happened because of something like this.

And if you aren't afraid to check these brain dumps into your source control in some kind of notes.md, it can also give you a bit more context on what problems you were facing at that time in the repo's life, and perhaps why you thought the solution at the time was a good one.