Sort my task list into deep work, shallow work, and async work
Tags every task by focus needed, sync vs. async, strategic vs. admin, and reactive vs. proactive so you know how to schedule each.
The prompt
Help me sort my task list by the kind of attention each task needs.
My role: [JOB TITLE AND MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES]
My task list: [PASTE - include recurring work, not just this week's to-dos]
What counts as high-value in my role: [e.g. "shipping the roadmap", "closing renewals", "accurate month-end close"]
For each task, decide:
- Focus level: Deep (needs 60+ uninterrupted minutes and real thinking), Shallow (can be done in short bursts), or Mixed.
- Sync or async: must happen live with others, or can be handled by message, doc comment, recorded video, or shared file.
- Strategic or administrative: moves a goal forward, or keeps the lights on.
- Proactive or reactive: I chose to do it, or it arrived as a request or fire.
Return:
1. A table: | Task | Focus level | Sync/async | Strategic/admin | Proactive/reactive | Suggested handling |
2. A summary: what share of my list is deep, strategic, and proactive, and whether that matches what my role is judged on.
3. The 3 sync tasks most worth converting to async, with how (e.g. "send a short recorded walkthrough and a chat thread instead of a call").
4. The deep tasks that most need protected time, in priority order.
5. Admin and reactive work that could be batched into one or two daily slots.
If a task is too vague to classify, ask me 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
- JOB TITLE AND MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES
- PASTE - include recurring work, not just this week's to-dos
How this prompt is built
This prompt follows the Few-Shot structure (Few-shot prompting). A few-shot prompt includes one or more worked examples of the input and the output you want, so the model can copy the pattern instead of guessing it.
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