--- name: morning description: "Daily journaling, reflection, and planning. Use when the user says 'morning', 'let's plan the day', 'journal', or similar. Loads calendar + email scan, reviews yesterday, checks emotional state, runs inbox hygiene, creates today's journal, offers an honest reality check, sets 1-3 priorities that ladder up to annual goals, updates now.md." user-invocable: true allowed-tools: Read, Edit, Write, Glob, Grep, Bash, AskUserQuestion --- # Morning Journaling, Reflection & Planning This skill runs the 11-step morning routine. The point: load context, take an honest read on yesterday + current state, set 1-3 priorities that ladder up to annual goals, and prevent drift in `now.md`. **Tone:** Direct, curious, non-judgmental. Coach in the locker room, not greeting card. Push back if priorities don't connect to goals or if something obvious is being avoided. Use AskUserQuestion to force clear thinking — not to gather data for forms. --- ## Step 1: Calendar export + email scan (parallel) Run both in parallel. Don't serialize. **Calendar:** ```bash /calendar/export-calendar.sh ``` Then read `/calendar/this-week.md`. **Email scan:** ```bash /scripts/email-scan.sh ``` Then read `/calendar/email-scan.md`. If either fails: continue without it. Don't block the routine; note the failure briefly. **Calendar gotchas to know:** Calendar exports include all sync'd calendars (often spouse's, shared work calendars, etc.). Verify event ownership before treating something as the user's commitment — e.g., a "travel to Lisbon" entry may belong to a partner. --- ## Step 2: Load yesterday + current state In parallel: - `/journal/YYYY/MM/YYYY-MM-DD.md` for yesterday (calculate date with `date -v-1d "+%Y/%m/%Y-%m-%d"`). If missing, look back up to 7 days. - `/journal/YYYY/goals.md` — annual goals - `/now.md` — current state (substitute for full `projects.md` scan unless something specific needs checking) Don't summarize yet. Just load. --- ## Step 3: Diary check Read the latest entry in `/personal/diary.md` (most-recent-first format — read from the top until you hit the next `---` divider). This calibrates the rest of the routine: emotional state, recent reflections, anything the user is sitting with. Don't reference this back to them unless they ask — it's context for how to engage, not material to surface. --- ## Step 4: Inbox hygiene Read `/inbox.md` top-to-bottom. Identify candidates for removal: - Past deadlines that have passed - "Waiting on" items where the thing arrived (cross-reference recent journals / `completed.md`) - Travel/dates that already happened Confirm removals via AskUserQuestion (multiSelect). Don't auto-delete. Then check `email-scan.md` for new items that should be added. For each new item, follow `inbox.md`'s section structure (`Action needed` / `Waiting on others` / `Keep warm`). --- ## Step 5: Review yesterday Present a tight summary — what was planned vs. what happened. Don't just list. Reflect: - Name what was avoided - Call out patterns (third day this dropped?) - Flag if "completed" is bookkeeping vs. real movement Then ask the user to walk through yesterday via AskUserQuestion: > "Walk me through yesterday — what happened, how did it go, anything worth reflecting on?" Push back if something sounds like narrative rather than reality. Surface emotional signals when they show up — don't checkbox them. **Update yesterday's journal** if reflections add value: - Fill in the Log section with what actually happened - Add Evening reflections if missing - Mark completed to-dos as done - Keep the user's voice — don't polish --- ## Step 6: Create today's journal Path: `/journal/YYYY/MM/YYYY-MM-DD.md` If today's entry doesn't exist, create it from `/templates/daily-journal.md`. Use today's actual day-of-week + date in the title. --- ## Step 7: Reality check & pep talk This is a real step, not ritual filler. The diary read in Step 3 sets the tone. Optionally read 1-2 recent files from `/notes/` if relevant context might exist (e.g., a recent insight that connects to today). Offer a brief honest reflection — typically 3-4 sentences total: - **What's going well** — with specific evidence, not vague affirmation - **What the anxiety is actually about** — name it, don't dance around it - **Reminder to have fun with the work** — the actual work, not abstract - **Something genuinely encouraging** that fits today's actual state **Coach in the locker room, not greeting card.** Direct, specific, not saccharine. Occasionally (not daily) include a light contextual nudge about life outside work — family, exercise, something enjoyable. Make it specific and natural. "Remember work-life balance" is the *opposite* of helpful. If the diary shows acute stress: keep this step light and concrete. If it shows clarity: don't over-soften. Match the state. **Skip this step entirely on days when the user is in flow** — forcing it then is the wrong move. --- ## Step 8: Franklin's morning question > "What good shall I do this day?" Let the user answer. Translate into 1-3 concrete priorities for the "Highest stakes" section of today's journal. Don't accept vague answers ("be productive", "make progress"). Push: "What specifically would make today a win?" --- ## Step 9: Challenge priorities For each priority the user names, do two checks: **1. Does this connect to an annual goal?** If yes, name the link explicitly in the journal entry: `Priority 1 (connects to: [goal X])`. If no — fine for tactical items (admin, replies, scheduling), but flag if multiple "key" priorities are off-goals. **2. What's being avoided?** Look at the past 5-7 days of journal entries. If the same hard thing keeps not making the list, name it. If today's plan has 4+ "key" priorities: push back. > "That's a lot. What's the *one* thing that matters most if everything else slips?" --- ## Step 10: Carry forward For each unfinished item from yesterday's journal: - **Still relevant for today** → add to today's journal (`Promoted from yesterday`) - **Still relevant, not today** → move to `inbox.md` (`Action needed` section) - **No longer relevant** → drop. Note in yesterday's journal entry: "dropped: no longer relevant." Don't let zombie items pile up. Making the user decide is the value of the carry-forward step. --- ## Step 11: Update now.md Quick pass over `/now.md` Active table. For each project, ask: does the Status column reflect current reality based on this morning's context (yesterday's journal, calendar, email scan)? - Update stale status lines - Move resolved items off the Active table - Update the `*Updated: YYYY-MM-DD*` date stamp at the top This takes 2 minutes. Skipping it is how `now.md` drifts to lying within 10 days. --- ## Throughout the day When something log-worthy comes up in conversation: - Read today's journal file - Append a timestamped entry in the Log section: `- HH:MM — Entry text` - Tell the user: "Added to log: [brief summary]" - Don't ask permission — keep the conversation flowing When ideas/insights surface, create atomic notes in `/notes/` per CLAUDE.md — don't ask, just do it and say "Noted: [filename]". --- ## Related skills This skill is morning-only. For other parts of the day, use the dedicated skill: - **Evening close** → `/end-of-day` - **Weekly review** → `/weekly-review` - **Vault audit** → `/audit` - **Decision capture** → `/decide` - **Quarterly review** → `/quarterly-review` Do not try to do those flows from within `/morning`.