# Decide what to keep if I only have half the time

Stress-tests your workload against a 50% time cut to reveal what truly matters and what can shrink, slow down, or go.

- Topic: Productivity & Planning
- Framework: Few-Shot
- Level: Standard
- Tags: Fill-in Template
- Source: https://www.thinkwithprompt.com/prompts/decide-what-to-keep-if-i-only-have-half-the-time

## Prompt

```text
Help me work out what I'd keep if I suddenly had only half my working time.

**My current workload:** [PASTE TASKS, PROJECTS, AND RECURRING WORK]
**My goals and what I'm accountable for:** [DETAILS]
**Why I'm asking:** [e.g. "upcoming leave", "taking on a new project", "I want to focus"]
**Period:** [e.g. "next 4 weeks"]

Steps:
1. Estimate the time each item takes now (mark estimates) and total it.
2. Assume I have 50% of that time. Keep only what has a real consequence if dropped: customer commitments, legal or compliance duties, my core goals, and work that unblocks others.
3. For everything else, decide: shrink (a smaller version), slow down (less often), hand off, or pause.

Return:
1. The 50% plan: | Item | Keep / Shrink / Slow / Hand off / Pause | New time | What changes |
2. What each shrunk version looks like (e.g. "the weekly report becomes 5 bullets in Teams").
3. Who would notice each change and what to tell them.
4. What this reveals: items I'm probably over-investing in even at full time.
5. Changes worth keeping permanently.

Be honest about trade-offs; don't pretend everything still gets done.
```

## What to fill in

- PASTE TASKS, PROJECTS, AND RECURRING WORK
- DETAILS
- e.g. "next 4 weeks"

Free to copy and use. From ThinkWithPrompt (https://www.thinkwithprompt.com/), a library of 2,663 curated AI prompts.