Productivity

When to Use

Use this skill when the user wants a real productivity system, not just one-off motivation. It should cover goals, projects, tasks, habits, planning, reviews, overload triage, and situation-specific constraints in one coherent operating model.

Architecture

Productivity lives in ~/productivity/. If ~/productivity/ does not exist yet, run setup.md.

~/productivity/
├── memory.md                 # Work style, constraints, energy, preferences
├── inbox/
│   ├── capture.md            # Quick capture before sorting
│   └── triage.md             # Triage rules and current intake
├── dashboard.md              # High-level direction and current focus
├── goals/
│   ├── active.md             # Outcome goals and milestones
│   └── someday.md            # Goals not committed yet
├── projects/
│   ├── active.md             # In-flight projects
│   └── waiting.md            # Blocked or delegated projects
├── tasks/
│   ├── next-actions.md       # Concrete next steps
│   ├── this-week.md          # This week's commitments
│   ├── waiting.md            # Waiting-for items
│   └── done.md               # Completed items worth keeping
├── habits/
│   ├── active.md             # Current habits and streak intent
│   └── friction.md           # Things that break consistency
├── planning/
│   ├── daily.md              # Daily focus and must-win
│   ├── weekly.md             # Weekly plan and protected time
│   └── focus-blocks.md       # Deep work and recovery blocks
├── reviews/
│   ├── weekly.md             # Weekly reset
│   └── monthly.md            # Monthly reflection and adjustments
├── commitments/
│   ├── promises.md           # Commitments made to self or others
│   └── delegated.md          # Handed-off work to track
├── focus/
│   ├── sessions.md           # Deep work sessions and patterns
│   └── distractions.md       # Repeating focus breakers
├── routines/
│   ├── morning.md            # Startup routine and first-hour defaults
│   └── shutdown.md           # End-of-day reset and carry-over logic
└── someday/
    └── ideas.md              # Parked ideas and optional opportunities

The skill should treat this as the user's productivity operating system: one trusted place for direction, commitments, execution, habits, and periodic review.

Quick Reference

Topic	File
Setup and routing	setup.md
Memory structure	memory-template.md
Productivity system template	system-template.md
Cross-situation frameworks	frameworks.md
Common mistakes	traps.md
Student context	situations/student.md
Executive context	situations/executive.md
Freelancer context	situations/freelancer.md
Parent context	situations/parent.md
Creative context	situations/creative.md
Burnout context	situations/burnout.md
Entrepreneur context	situations/entrepreneur.md
ADHD context	situations/adhd.md
Remote work context	situations/remote.md
Manager context	situations/manager.md
Habit context	situations/habits.md
Guilt and recovery context	situations/guilt.md

What This Skill Sets Up

Layer	Purpose	Default location
Capture	Catch loose inputs fast	~/productivity/inbox/
Direction	Goals and active bets	~/productivity/dashboard.md + goals/
Execution	Next actions and commitments	~/productivity/tasks/
Projects	Active and waiting project state	~/productivity/projects/
Habits	Repeated behaviors and friction	~/productivity/habits/
Planning	Daily, weekly, and focus planning	~/productivity/planning/
Reflection	Weekly and monthly reset	~/productivity/reviews/
Commitments	Promises and delegated follow-through	~/productivity/commitments/
Focus	Deep work protection and distraction logs	~/productivity/focus/
Routines	Startup and shutdown defaults	~/productivity/routines/
Parking lot	Non-committed ideas	~/productivity/someday/
Personal fit	Constraints, energy, preferences	~/productivity/memory.md

This skill should give the user a single framework that can absorb:

• goals
• projects
• tasks
• habits
• priorities
• focus sessions
• routines
• focus blocks
• reviews
• commitments
• inbox capture
• parked ideas
• bottlenecks
• context-specific adjustments

Quick Queries

User says	Action
"Set up my productivity system"	Create the ~/productivity/ baseline and explain the folders
"What should I focus on?"	Check dashboard + tasks + commitments + focus, then surface top priorities
"Help me plan my week"	Use goals, projects, commitments, routines, and energy patterns to build a weekly plan
"I'm overwhelmed"	Triage commitments, cut scope, and reset next actions
"Turn this goal into a plan"	Convert goal -> project -> milestones -> next actions
"Do a weekly review"	Update wins, blockers, carry-overs, and next-week focus
"Help me with habits"	Use habits/ to track what to keep, drop, or redesign
"Help me reset my routine"	Use routines/ and planning/ to simplify startup and shutdown loops
"Remember this preference"	Save it to ~/productivity/memory.md after explicit confirmation

Core Rules

1. Build One System, Not Five Competing Ones

• Prefer one trusted productivity structure over scattered notes, random task lists, and duplicated plans.
• Route goals, projects, tasks, habits, routines, focus, planning, and reviews into the right folder instead of inventing a fresh system each time.
• If the user already has a good system, adapt to it rather than replacing it for style reasons.

2. Start With the Real Bottleneck

• Diagnose whether the problem is priorities, overload, unclear next actions, bad estimates, weak boundaries, or low energy.
• Give the smallest useful intervention first.
• Do not prescribe a full life overhaul when the user really needs a clearer next step.

3. Separate Goals, Projects, and Tasks Deliberately

• Goals describe outcomes.
• Projects package the work needed to reach an outcome.
• Tasks are the next visible actions.
• Habits are repeated behaviors that support the system over time.
• Never leave a goal sitting as a vague wish without a concrete project or next action.

4. Adapt the System to Real Constraints

• Use the situation guides when the user's reality matters more than generic advice.
• Energy, childcare, deadlines, meetings, burnout, and ADHD constraints should shape the plan.
• A sustainable system beats an idealized one that collapses after two days.

5. Reviews Matter More Than Constant Replanning

• Weekly review is where the system regains trust.
• Clear stale tasks, rename vague items, and reconnect tasks to real priorities.
• If the user keeps replanning daily without progress, simplify and review instead.

6. Save Only Explicitly Approved Preferences

• Store work-style information only when the user explicitly asks you to save it or clearly approves.
• Before writing to ~/productivity/memory.md, ask for confirmation.
• Never infer long-term preferences from silence, patterns, or one-off comments.

Common Traps

• Giving motivational talk when the problem is actually structural.
• Treating every task like equal priority.
• Mixing goals, projects, and tasks in the same vague list.
• Building a perfect system the user will never maintain.
• Recommending routines that ignore the user's real context.
• Preserving stale commitments because deleting them feels uncomfortable.

Scope

This skill ONLY:

• builds or improves a local productivity operating system
• gives productivity advice and planning frameworks
• reads included reference files for context-specific guidance
• writes to ~/productivity/ only after explicit user approval

This skill NEVER:

• accesses calendar, email, contacts, or external services by itself
• monitors or tracks behavior in the background
• infers long-term preferences from observation alone
• writes files without explicit user confirmation
• makes network requests
• modifies its own SKILL.md or auxiliary files

External Endpoints

This skill makes NO external network requests.

Endpoint	Data Sent	Purpose
None	None	N/A

No data is sent externally.

Data Storage

Local files live in ~/productivity/.

• ~/productivity/memory.md stores approved preferences, constraints, and work-style notes
• ~/productivity/inbox/ stores fast captures and triage
• ~/productivity/dashboard.md stores top-level direction and current focus
• ~/productivity/goals/ stores active and someday goals
• ~/productivity/projects/ stores active and waiting projects
• ~/productivity/tasks/ stores next actions, weekly commitments, waiting items, and completions
• ~/productivity/habits/ stores active habits and friction notes
• ~/productivity/planning/ stores daily plans, weekly plans, and focus blocks
• ~/productivity/reviews/ stores weekly and monthly reviews
• ~/productivity/commitments/ stores promises and delegated follow-through
• ~/productivity/focus/ stores deep-work sessions and distraction patterns
• ~/productivity/routines/ stores startup and shutdown defaults
• ~/productivity/someday/ stores parked ideas

Create or update these files only after the user confirms they want the system written locally.

Migration

If upgrading from an older version, see migration.md before restructuring any existing ~/productivity/ files. Keep legacy files until the user confirms the new system is working for them.

Security & Privacy

Data that leaves your machine:

• Nothing. This skill performs no network calls.

Data stored locally:

• Only the productivity files the user explicitly approves in ~/productivity/
• Work preferences, constraints, priorities, and planning artifacts the user chose to save

This skill does NOT:

• access internet or third-party services
• read calendar, email, contacts, or system data automatically
• run scripts or commands by itself
• monitor behavior in the background
• infer hidden preferences from passive observation

Trust

This skill is instruction-only. It provides a local framework for productivity planning, prioritization, and review. Install it only if you are comfortable storing your own productivity notes in plain text under ~/productivity/.

Related Skills

Install with clawhub install <slug> if user confirms:

• self-improving — Compound execution quality and reusable lessons across tasks
• goals — Deeper goal-setting and milestone design
• calendar-planner — Calendar-driven planning and scheduling support
• notes — Structured note capture for ongoing work and thinking

Feedback

• If useful: clawhub star productivity
• Stay updated: clawhub sync