I think graphicdetails is right - once I've called the fire department, the next action in "put out grease fire" (which is a project, not an action!) should be "wait for fire department". And that goes in @Waiting For, and away it goes.

So it's not a process problem - it's a thinking problem. I'm not looking at my list for the next thing to do, because my brain is stuck on "but the kitchen's on fire! Don't do anything else!" Hmmm. Maybe it's a classic psychic RAM problem, and it's really about "trusted lists".