Word/phrase for avoiding a task because it has a lot of unknowns

Question

Have you ever needed to do a task/chore that has a lot of unknowns, and because of that it created a mental barrier to getting started?

For example,

• You have to clean out a shed but you can't even remember what's in there anymore, and there might or might not be new wasp's nests to deal with, and some boards were recently replaced so there might nails sticking out of the wall etc. etc. etc.
• You have to cook something but you're not sure if that thing in the fridge is still good, and you don't have ingredient X but and you're not sure what to replace it with, and you know that you're probably gonna have to wash some dishes first because other people use the kitchen and never wash anything, and your oven was making a weird smell but you haven't dealt with it yet etc. etc. etc.
• You need to edit a manuscript, but you can't really remember what you wrote and you have a feeling that there were other problems in there too and your co-author made changes while you were away and you have no idea what they did etc. etc. etc.
• I think by now you get the point. The other commonality is that once you get started, everything is usually fine

This is a really frequent occurrence in my life (I write code at work ;)) and every time I try to talk about it I have to synthesize the idea over multiple sentences and examples.

Is there a word or some short pithy way to describe a task that is daunting because of (over-)anticipated problems/complexity?

Answer 1

Analysis paralysis, Overthinking

Analysis paralysis (or paralysis by analysis also known as overthinking) describes an individual or group process where overanalyzing or overthinking a situation can cause forward motion or decision-making to become "paralyzed", meaning that no solution or course of action is decided upon within a natural time frame. A situation may be deemed too complicated and a decision is never made, or made much too late, due to anxiety that a potentially larger problem may arise. —Wikipedia

Answer 2

A can of worms is an undesirable problem or task that one typically wants to avoid addressing, because once started, the problem gets messier or worse, or reveals its true difficulty. It somewhat connotes that the scope of the problem isn't fully known from the outside before digging into it. There is a strong implication that the problem may be more complex than it initially appears, with unknown elements that aren't easily anticipated. I will note that the presence of unknowns isn't totally required, as something could still be called a can of worms even if it is well understood how the problem will multiply.

Here be dragons is another phrase connoting serious anticipated difficulties in an unknown or unexplored area. The phrase is used on historical maps to decorate uncharted regions where mythological creatures were thought to exist. Today, the phrase calls to mind the notion of venturing into the unknown and expecting great difficulty in the face of new challenges.

A more general term for a daunting task that one might avoid starting is to say it has high activation energy. This chemistry term refers to the amount of energy that must be input to start a reaction, and can be used colloquially to refer to the effort needed to begin a task. It doesn't connote a sense of unknowns, but does connote a task that is difficult to get started for whatever reason. Often it may connote that the task isn't so bad once started, as it highlights the large initial effort, somewhat implying the continued effort is less.

Answer 3

risk-averse (adj.)

Unwilling to take risks or wanting to avoid risks as much as possible:

He feels modern attitudes to children's play are too restrictive and risk-averse.

risk-averse investors
Cambridge

Disinclined or reluctant to take risks; cautious, wary.

1961 The configuration of the constraint surface suggests that management is risk adverse.
Management Science vol. 15 b384
[OED online]

risk aversion (n.)

In economics and finance, risk aversion is the tendency of people to prefer outcomes with low uncertainty to those outcomes with high uncertainty, even if the average outcome of the latter is equal to or higher in monetary value than the more certain outcome.
Wikipedia

risk avoidance (collocation)

These words are often used together. Click on the links below to explore the meanings. Or, see other collocations with risk or avoidance.
Cambridge

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I estimate that this constant desire for excitement—whether it comes as driving too fast, smoking pot, or bungee jumping—is a response to the monotony that stems from overly-controlling, risk-adverse parents.
Alex Bitterman; The College Question (2013)

Risk avoidance is not only to be considered at the commencement of the project but throughout its life span and by all the parties involved in the contract.
Basil Sawczuk; Risk Avoidance for the Building Team (2002)

Gunter Franke; Standard Risk Aversion and the Demand for Risky Assets in the Presence of Background Risk (2008)

Answer 4

A commonly used phrase that captures the idea of unknowns:

to open Pandora's box

Avoidance can be implied, for example (in the context of training an NLP model):

Adding dropout to the input layer of a neural network is opening Pandora's box because you will risk randomly discarding important information.

A commonly used phrase that captures the idea of starting a process that is particularly complex, strange, or chaotic:

to go down the rabbit hole

Avoidance is not implicit though. To use your coding reference:

I decided to go down the rabbit hole and refactor the big block of legacy code.

Answer 5

As the difficulty is merely apparent (one of the comments says "You have all these worries that it will be complex but after starting it ends up just being a normal task like any other."), the figurative use of "scarecrow" might be suitable.

(SOED) scarecrow 1b Fig. Something, often not really alarming, that frightens or is ntended to frighten; an object of groundless fear.

• Nature The prospect of world-wide famine, always something of a scarecrow, .. diminished.

Note: Nature is a science journal.

Example

• The preparation of such a dish in this disorganized kitchen is a task that bears all the stamp of a scarecrow to me, but it is no problem for him.

Answer 6

When you find a reason not to proceed with something and abruptly stop, you are said to balk. It doesn't have to be due to unknowns, but people often balk at completing tasks due to feeling overwhelmed by unknowns.

Answer 7

You seem to have three questions here. First, a task that lacks clarity, causing unease and lack of direction. Trepidation is the first word that comes to mind but not quite right. The simplest is mental block. Overwhelmed, Staggering, and Stupefy are also good.

The second question seems to be what is it called when you can't get something into your head. I think I found something that seems to fit, aphantasia, the inability to visualize. It says about 3% of people have it but I don't even know that many people and think I know a few, including myself. Your need to have it right in front of you before you understand it seems to fit.

Last, a pithy way to describe it. For more casual describer, I would go with "a hot mess." For a more academic way of saying it, go with "highly involved, "intricate," "time intensive," or even "a challenge."

Answer 8

Anxiety

Merriam-Webster

apprehensive uneasiness or nervousness usually over an impending or anticipated ill : a state of being anxious

You said that once you get started (e.g. once you open the shed door to look at what needs to be cleaned, or look in the refrigerator to see what you have available, re-read your manuscript and notes etc.) the feeling goes away. At that point the decision-making becomes easy. What you're describing is the anxiety before getting started.

Answer 9

Better the devil you know than the devil you don't

This common English proverb / idiom has multiple uses, but one sense applies here: it is mentally easier to start working on a task whose difficulties you know than one where you can't yet imagine or predict what the difficulties will be.