A Five-Minute Capacity Check-In

1. Arrive before you organize

Take one quiet minute before opening the full list. Notice physical energy, mental clarity, emotional load, sensory load, and any support available today.

2. Choose today’s mode

• Protect: preserve capacity and keep only essentials.
• Steady: make measured progress with room around it.
• Full: use broader capacity without borrowing recklessly from tomorrow.

3. Name the one true priority

If only one meaningful thing receives care today, what should it be? This can be recovery, an appointment, feeding yourself, a work task, or asking for help.

4. Make space before adding more

Place breaks, travel, setup, recovery, and transition time on the page. Then decide what else fits.

5. Set a reset cue

Choose one signal that means you will pause and reconsider: a symptom change, increased brain fog, missed food or medication, rising overwhelm, or a set time of day.

Download the worksheet below to use this check-in away from the screen.