Figuring out the next step

There's knowing what needs to be done, and there's doing it.
Although I sometimes grumble about the work, energy, time, involved in doing what needs to be done, I prefer that situation to the other--the one in which I don't know what needs to be done.
And I really only know three ways to figure out what needs to be done: Trial and error. Seeking advice. Waiting.
None of them is a surefire, fully successful path to the answer. Sometimes one works, sometimes the other.
Maybe they are all, in fact, a variation on "Trial and error."
What's the next right thing to do? The answer often seems to hover just beyond reach.