As above, this is just my way of working. YMMV. I have been struggling with the same thing I think it comes down to having a good old think about that project. When I add the project I try to spend 10 minutes brainstorming the actions I need to take to get to the picture of success I have in my head. I do a typical mindmap of the likely actions then a list of them in order and I put those into my next actions list. Some will be for much later and can go right down the list, others will follow on from the first action and be right next to it.

As an example I just picked up a project to investigate a pricing disparity between one of our suppliers in different countries. I brainstormed the project and worked out what success looked like (going back to my boss with an accurate picture of the problem and suggestions for improvement, in the form of a very short report, by next Monday - NB I try to keep these statements as SMART as possible).

Next I brainstormed what I needed to do and came up with the following actions - pull the commercial agreement documents, speak to both the relevant country managers, find out who owns the commercial relationship and speak to them. Then my next step is to re-evaluate and decide what comes next. My Next Actions list therefore includes all 5 of those actions, roughly in the order in which they need to be completed.

I would suggest that if you are not sure what your next few actions should be, you need to have a 'brainstorm project' action on your Next Actions list