Writing comments first
Something I often do before writing new code is to write out what it needs to do, either in a README file or as code comments.
It could be paragraphs of text explaining the problem I'm solving, or a short checklist of what the code needs to do.
This clarifies the situation and the approach and allows uncovering any potential questions or issues.
It takes time, but I can complete the task quicker as I've made the decisions and answered any questions upfront.
I'll either remove the comments as I write the code or, if they still add value, I'll keep them to add more context and information.