What is circular dependency thinking?

Circular dependency thinking is a concept in personal epistemology: When two agents each wait for the other neither can proceed — design to prevent this.

Example: You want to start a journaling practice, but you tell yourself you will journal once you have clarity about what to write. Meanwhile, you believe clarity will come from journaling. Neither action launches because each depends on the other completing first. Your 'start journaling' agent holds the requirement 'have clarity' and waits. Your 'gain clarity' agent holds the requirement 'journal regularly' and waits. Both agents are blocked. Both will wait forever. This is a deadlock — not a motivation problem, not laziness, not resistance. It is a structural coordination failure with an exact structural fix: break the circular dependency. Commit to journaling for five minutes about anything, surrendering the clarity prerequisite. One agent releases its hold, the cycle breaks, and both can proceed.

This concept is part of Phase 26 (Multi-Agent Coordination) in the How to Think curriculum, which builds the epistemic infrastructure for multi-agent coordination.