Pick my top five priorities and a must-do, should-do, can-wait list
Narrows a long workload to five clear priorities plus a must-do, should-do, can-wait list you can share with your manager.
The prompt
Help me cut my workload down to five clear priorities.
Everything on my plate: [PASTE TASKS, PROJECTS, AND REQUESTS]
What my manager or team expects most from me right now: [e.g. "close the audit findings", "ship the pricing page"]
Time frame: [this week / this month / this quarter]
Hard deadlines and commitments I cannot move: [DETAILS]
Rules:
- Top five means five. If two items are really one outcome, combine them; do not sneak in a sixth.
- Must-do = a real consequence if missed (deadline, customer, compliance, a commitment I made). Should-do = clear value but can slip a little. Can-wait = fine to defer or drop for this period.
- Write each priority as an outcome ("Signed vendor contract by May 15"), not an activity ("work on vendor stuff").
- If something is urgent but low value, say so instead of ranking it high.
Return:
1. My top five priorities, each with the outcome, why it made the list, and the next action.
2. Must-do / Should-do / Can-wait lists, one line per item with the reason.
3. Items that need a conversation (someone expects them but they landed in Can-wait), with a one-line message I can send.
4. A short version I can paste into Teams or Slack to align with my manager.
Mark anything you lack the facts to classify as [CONFIRM] rather than guessing.
Highlighted [brackets] are blanks to replace with your own details.
Fill in the blanks and use this promptMore Productivity & Planning prompts
What to fill in
- PASTE TASKS, PROJECTS, AND REQUESTS
- e.g. "close the audit findings", "ship the pricing page"
- this week / this month / this quarter
- DETAILS
- CONFIRM
How this prompt is built
This prompt follows the RTF structure (Role, Task, Format). RTF tells the model who to be, what to do and what shape the answer should take. It is the quickest structure that still gives noticeably better results than a bare request.
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