What are obstacles?
The second layer: not how you handled a plan, but what got in the way — picked by you, never guessed by the AI.
Why obstacles exist
The six mechanisms describe how you handled a plan. They say nothing about what got in the way. The mechanism is usually in your text; the cause almost never is.
That’s why the AI doesn’t guess the cause. You pick it yourself.
The seven obstacles
- Took on too much
- Next step unclear
- No time
- Forgot
- No energy
- Lacked support
- Wasn’t important enough to me
If none of them fit, choose None of these — or simply leave the question unanswered.
When are you asked?
Not after every entry. The question "What got in the way?" only appears in context:
- You tapped Mark under "Was today difficult?" on the Home tab.
- The evaluation suggested Adapting as the mechanism — then asking is especially worthwhile, because you changed the plan.
How obstacles appear in reports
As a self-report, never as fact: reports say "You told us: …". KarmaFlow doesn’t claim to know the cause — it records what you named yourself.
What comes out of it
Each obstacle has a matching experiment suggestion for the next round: make the step smaller, change the timing, set a reminder, arrange support, plan recovery or prepare your surroundings. In the weekly view it shows up as "Experiment for next week" — a small test, not a new resolution.