Turn a pile of updates into my next 5 actions for today
Picks out what truly needs you today from a stack of updates and turns it into 5 ordered actions that fit your schedule.
The prompt
Go through everything below and turn it into a short action plan for today.
What's in front of me: [PASTE updates, emails, Teams or Slack messages, reports, task lists]
My role and current priorities: [ROLE and the 2-3 things that matter most this period]
Time I actually have today: [e.g. "back-to-back meetings until 3pm, then 2 hours free", "travelling, phone only"]
People I can hand things to: [NAMES or roles - optional]
Today's date: [DATE, so you can spot deadlines]
Steps:
1. Needs me today - pick only the items with a deadline today or tomorrow, an escalation, a decision only I can make, or real risk if they wait. One line each on why.
2. My next 5 actions, in order. Each starts with a verb and has: estimated time, what "done" looks like, and which item it comes from. The total must fit the time I have; if it doesn't, say what to drop or move.
3. Hand off - items someone else can take, with who and a ready-to-send one-line handoff message.
4. Can wait - everything else, with a suggested day to look at it (not a full summary).
5. Looks urgent but isn't - and anything quiet that could become a problem this week if ignored.
Rules: judge urgency from deadlines, who's asking, and impact - not from exclamation marks or the word "urgent". Don't invent deadlines; if one is unclear, mark it [CHECK DEADLINE]. Never put anything involving money, legal, safety, or a direct request from my manager into "can wait" without flagging it. I make the final call on priorities.
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
- ROLE and the 2-3 things that matter most this period
- NAMES or roles - optional
- DATE, so you can spot deadlines
- CHECK DEADLINE
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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