I really do not like the above expression. It means that after you have done some work (or substantial work sometimes) you come back where you started. That can be really annoying.
It has happened to me now. I have to do a project in a subject. I am searching for a project from the past month. I am still unable to focus on the project due to one reason or the other. Twice I thought I had almost finalized it only to back off at the last moment. This is really buggig me and I have decided to finalize it by next week.
