Specific ways you've worked through compositional problems?

I've seen many composition videos on youtube where the composer encourages beginners to try their hand at shorter pieces for smaller forces, specifically with the goal of trying to reduce the amount of problems one might encounter at once (I can recall hearing this sentiment from Saad Haddad and Samuel Andreyev).

What I'm really curious about is the exact form that these problems may take in a piece. I would love it if yall could give examples of how you worked through a compositional difficulty in the midst of a piece.