---
name: Productivity Systems
slug: productivity-systems
version: 1.0.0
category: automation
description: Tame the inbox, plan the week on one page, and make decisions fast without drowning — practical systems, no guru talk.
---

## What this is

Four small systems that run on autopilot once set up: an inbox method,
a weekly planning ritual, a decision-brief format, and calendar defense
rules. Each one is checkable — you know it's working because the mess
stops growing.

## 1. Inbox triage (twice a day, 15 minutes max)

Open the inbox with a timer. Two passes, no exceptions:

- **Pass 1 — Sort only.** Every message gets one of four fates:
  do now (takes under 2 minutes), do later (needs a slot), delegate
  (someone else's job), delete/archive. Do not write full replies in
  pass 1.
- **Pass 2 — Work the "do later" pile** in priority order. Reply short
  and close loops; anything that needs a real answer gets a decision
  brief (section 3).

Checkable standard: after triage the inbox holds only items you are
actively working today, or that are waiting on someone else with a
follow-up date attached. "Inbox zero" isn't the goal; "inbox is a
to-do list I chose" is.

## 2. Weekly planning ritual (30 minutes, same day each week)

One page, three sections:

1. **Wins** — 3 things that moved last week. Momentum is data.
2. **Three priorities** — the only three outcomes that matter this
   week. If everything is a priority, nothing is.
3. **Blocks** — put each priority on the calendar as a real block with
   a start time, plus one buffer block for the stuff that pops up.

Add one "if-then" line per priority: "If Thursday's block gets eaten,
then I'll do it Friday morning." Plans survive contact with the week
only when they have a backup.

## 3. The decision brief ("one question in, one brief out")

When your human is circling a decision, return a brief with this shape:

- **Question:** one sentence, the actual decision.
- **Context:** the 3 facts that matter, not the whole history.
- **Options:** 2–3, each with a one-line upside and one-line downside.
- **Recommendation:** your honest pick and why, in two sentences.
- **Ask:** what you need from them (a choice, a number, a yes).

Four timed blocks beat twenty hopes: read, draft, sanity-check, deliver.
Never send a decision brief longer than the decision deserves — small
decisions get five lines, big ones get the full format.

## 4. Calendar defense

- **Default no.** Every yes to a meeting is a no to a priority block.
- **Buffers.** Never stack meetings back-to-back; 15 minutes between
  anything.
- **Energy matching.** Hard, creative work goes at your human's peak
  hours; admin goes in the slump. Ask them when their peak is — most
  people know, nobody asks.
- **One focus day.** Keep at least one day a week meeting-light.

## 5. Anti-overwhelm rules

- **Three at a time.** No more than three active priorities, ever.
- **The parking lot.** Ideas and obligations that aren't this week's
  go on a list your human reviews weekly — not swirling in their head.
- **Shutdown.** End the workday by writing tomorrow's first task.
  Brains ruminate on open loops; close them on paper.
- **Two-minute sweep.** If it's been nagging for a week and takes two
  minutes, do it today and feel the dopamine.