SMART Productivity Planner

Put AI to work on the thinking — not on the answers

These prompts are built on the 4Ds: a clear role (Delegation), your real context (Description), a constraint, and an instruction to show its reasoning so the judgement stays yours (Discernment and Diligence).

Six for the working day, mapped to the sections of this planner: the brain dump, the goal, the top three, the habit that keeps breaking, the evening review and the Friday review. Use them where the planner already asks you a question and you would rather think it through with something that pushes back.

Replace the [bracketed] parts with your own words and paste into whichever AI you use.

Sort the brain dump into a day

Description

Use with ① Brain Dump — when the box is full and you cannot see the wood for the trees.

Here is everything currently in my head, unedited: [paste your brain dump]. Sort it into four lists: things that must happen today, things that matter but not today, things worth keeping but not acting on, and things I should simply drop. Put anything in the drop list that I have carried for weeks without acting on, and say why. Then give me three actions for today only — no more than three — and tell me what you deliberately left out.

Why this shape: Asking what it left out is the useful part. That is where you find out whether you agree with its priorities or your own.

Test whether that is actually a SMART goal

Discernment

Use with ① SMART Goal or the Weekly SMART Goal, before you commit to it.

Here is the goal I have written: [paste it]. Test it honestly against each of the five. Is it specific. Is it measurable by a number I could actually produce on Friday. Is it achievable given [your real constraints — time, people, budget]. Is it relevant to [what you are genuinely accountable for]. Is it time-bound. Score each one, then tell me which single element is weakest. Do not rewrite the goal for me — I want to fix the weak one myself.

Why this shape: Most goals fail on measurable and pretend to pass. Refusing the rewrite keeps the goal yours.

Make the diary and the priorities argue

Delegation

Use with ② Top 3 Priorities and ③ Schedule, at the start of the day.

These are my top three for today: [list them]. This is what is actually in my diary: [paste the day]. Tell me where the two disagree. Identify which of the three is most likely to slip, what will push it out, and the one meeting or task I should move, shorten or decline to protect it. Give me the exact sentence I would use to decline it.

Why this shape: A priority list that never meets the diary is a wish list. This forces the two documents into the same room.

Diagnose the habit that keeps breaking

Diligence

Use with ④ Habit Tracker, after a week where the dots stopped.

I have been trying to hold this habit: [the habit]. Here is what actually happened this week: [which days it held, which it did not, and what was going on]. Do not tell me to try harder or want it more. Diagnose the pattern instead: what conditions were present on the days it held, what was present on the days it broke, and whether the habit is simply sized wrong for my week. Then give me the smallest version of it that would survive my worst day.

Why this shape: Ruling out the willpower answer up front is what makes the reply useful. Most broken habits are badly sized, not badly wanted.

Close the day honestly

Diligence

Use with ⑤ Evening Review, before you shut the laptop.

Here is what I finished today and what is still open: [paste both]. Give me three things and nothing else. One: a three-sentence summary of the day I would be comfortable saying out loud to my manager. Two: the three things that genuinely have to lead tomorrow, based on what is still open. Three: the one open item I should stop carrying tonight, and why it is safe to leave it. Do not congratulate me.

Why this shape: Naming the one thing to put down is the point. An unfinished item you rehearse overnight costs more than the task itself.

A weekly review that argues back

Discernment

Use with the Weekly Review and Weekly Score, on a Friday.

Here is my week: [paste your notes, scores and what got done]. Act as a sceptical second pair of eyes, not a cheerleader. Give me the wins I have understated, the one pattern showing up across the week that I am probably explaining away, the three things that should lead next week, and one sentence worth holding on to. If the score I have given myself looks generous or harsh next to what I have described, say so.

Why this shape: That last instruction earns its keep. Self-scoring drifts, and you are the last person to notice your own drift.

These six are built on the four habits taught free in the SMART AI guide library — Delegation, Description, Discernment, Diligence. Learn the method once and you can write your own. This planner works completely without AI; nothing here is required.