Help me improve productivity based on my actual work, obligations, and limits. Do not prescribe a generic morning routine, add new tools without a clear reason, or assume I can work longer hours. [ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES] [CURRENT WORKLOAD AND TIME USE] [TOP OUTCOMES AND DEADLINES] [CONSTRAINTS AND ENERGY PATTERNS] [CURRENT SYSTEMS AND PAIN POINTS] Start by identifying the 3 to 5 highest-leverage outcomes for the next [TIME HORIZON], distinguishing outcomes from recurring activity. Then diagnose the bottleneck using the information I supplied: unclear priorities, too much work in progress, interruptions, delegation gaps, meeting load, task ambiguity, slow decisions, or capacity limits. Produce a plan with these sections: 1. A priority rule that tells me what to defer, decline, delegate, or stop. 2. A weekly operating rhythm with protected focus blocks, meeting boundaries, planning time, and a realistic buffer for urgent work. 3. A daily task system with a maximum number of active priorities and a definition of “done” for each. 4. Specific changes to my calendar, inbox, task list, and team agreements where relevant. 5. A two-week experiment table: action, owner, expected benefit, effort, leading indicator, and review date. Rank recommendations by likely impact and implementation friction. Include scripts for one boundary I need to set. Self-check before answering: make sure every recommendation connects to a stated bottleneck, and flag any deadline or workload that appears impossible within the available capacity. Ask up to 3 clarifying questions only if a required input is missing.
Fill in
| Placeholder | What to enter | Example |
|---|---|---|
| [ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES] | Describe your role, decision rights, recurring responsibilities, and who depends on you. | Product marketing manager; own launch messaging, sales enablement, and a team of two contractors. |
| [CURRENT WORKLOAD AND TIME USE] | List current projects, recurring meetings, typical weekly hours, and where your time goes. | Three launches, 18 hours of meetings weekly, Slack interruptions, and 45-50 work hours. |
| [TOP OUTCOMES AND DEADLINES] | Name the outcomes that matter most and their dates. | Finish April launch brief by March 28; approve customer webinar deck by April 3; hire freelance writer by April 10. |
| [CONSTRAINTS AND ENERGY PATTERNS] | State fixed commitments, caregiving or health limits, time zones, and when you do your best focused work. | School pickup Tuesday and Thursday at 3:30; strongest writing time is 8:30-11:00; work with UK teammates. |
| [CURRENT SYSTEMS AND PAIN POINTS] | Describe the calendar, task, communication systems, and the points where work gets stuck. | Google Calendar, Asana, Slack; tasks arrive in Slack and meetings regularly lack agendas. |
| [TIME HORIZON] | Enter the period the plan should cover, such as two weeks or one quarter. | the next two weeks |
How to use
- List obligations as well as projects, because recurring work is often the real capacity constraint.
- Include dates and approximate weekly hours so the plan can test feasibility.
- Move only the first two-week experiments onto your calendar and task system.
- Follow up with: “Turn the weekly rhythm into a Monday-to-Friday calendar proposal using my stated constraints.”
Variations
Team productivity
Use this when a team is missing commitments or spending too much time coordinating.
Diagnose and improve productivity for [TEAM AND MISSION] using [CURRENT WORKFLOW], [WORKLOAD EVIDENCE], and [CONSTRAINTS]. Produce a short operating model covering intake, prioritization, work-in-progress limits, decision owners, meeting cadence, and status reporting. Include a two-week pilot with measures such as cycle time, blocked work, or on-time delivery. Do not frame individual performance as the cause without evidence. Flag conflicting priorities and work that has no owner. Ask up to 3 questions only if a required input is missing.
Focus plan
Use this when interruptions and context switching are the main problem.
Create a focused-work plan from [WORKING HOURS], [INTERRUPTION SOURCES], [DEEP-WORK TASKS], and [NONNEGOTIABLE COMMITMENTS]. Produce a weekly schedule, communication-status rules, triage method for truly urgent requests, and a shutdown checklist that preserves next actions. Fit the plan to the energy pattern I describe; do not recommend silencing channels that are required for my role. Check that all deep-work tasks have enough protected time before answering. Ask up to 3 questions only if an input is missing.
Overload triage
Use this when there is more work than the available time can hold.
Help me triage an overloaded workload using [PROJECT LIST], [DEADLINES], [AVAILABLE CAPACITY], and [STAKEHOLDERS]. Categorize each item as commit, renegotiate, delegate, defer, or stop, with a one-sentence rationale and consequence. Draft concise messages to renegotiate the two least feasible commitments. Do not invent business impact or authority I have not stated. Calculate the rough capacity gap and flag dependencies that make dates unreliable. Ask up to 3 questions only if necessary inputs are missing.
Tips
- Measure commitments against available focus hours, not the total number of hours in a workweek.
- Use a work-in-progress limit: completing two meaningful tasks is usually more valuable than advancing seven tasks slightly.
- Treat recurring meetings as projects with a cost; remove, shorten, or redesign meetings that do not produce a decision, commitment, or useful review.
- If work enters through chat, define where its official task record lives and who converts an urgent request into a prioritized task.
FAQ
Can AI tell me why I am unproductive?
It can spot patterns in the workload and routines you provide, but it cannot observe your work directly. The strongest plans test one or two suspected bottlenecks with measurable experiments.
Should I ask AI to make a detailed daily schedule?
Ask for protected blocks and priority rules first. A minute-by-minute plan often fails when meetings, dependencies, and urgent work change.
What if the plan shows I cannot meet all deadlines?
Use that as evidence to renegotiate scope, sequence, staffing, or dates. A productivity system cannot create capacity that does not exist.