| name | one-month-day |
| description | Plan a "One-Month Day" the night before — a single day engineered to produce a month's worth of output by stacking flow blocks (Rían Doris / Flow Research Collective). Walks the user through Preparation end-to-end (Isolate Target → Clear Load → Build Flow Fortress → Cement Commitment → Lock Schedule), then outputs the plan as a markdown brief in the user's notes vault, as calendar events for the next day, or both. Use when the user says "plan my one-month day", "set up a flow day", "plan tomorrow as a one-month day", "schedule a deep work day", "stack flow blocks for tomorrow", "I need a monster output day", or wants to design a single high-output day around flow cycles. Distinct from `the-one-thing` (lifelong focus on one goal) and `deep-learner` (Socratic learning) — this is the night-before planning workflow specifically. |
One-Month Day
Plan a single day that produces a month's worth of output, by stacking flow blocks. Workflow is night-before: the user finishes the skill with everything they need to wake up tomorrow and execute without thinking.
Source: Rían Doris / Flow Research Collective — One-Month Day Checklist. Premise: copy cannot create flow; preparation channels it. Most people fail the One-Month Day because they wing it — this skill makes that impossible.
Pace and shape
- Mini-interview per step — 2–4 targeted questions, not strict one-Q-at-a-time, not a single batched prompt.
- Generation-heavy where useful — when the user is stuck (recovery activities, blockable apps, consequence ideas), propose 3–6 concrete options. Don't ask open questions and wait.
- Each step ends with an explicit exit carried forward into the plan.
- Backtracking allowed — user can say "go back to Step N" any time.
- Tag every move (book) or (workflow). (book) = lifted from the checklist. (workflow) = operationalization for night-before planning.
Intake (always, before Step 1)
Ask all three:
- Date of the One-Month Day — "Which day are we planning? (Default: tomorrow.)" Convert to absolute YYYY-MM-DD.
- Wake-time anchor — "What time will you wake up? (Default: 5:00 AM. All flow blocks shift from this anchor.)"
- Constraints — "Anything fixed on that day that I need to plan around? (Hard appointments, kids, travel, etc.)"
If the user resists a 5 AM wake, accept it and shift the schedule — don't argue. The schedule is anchored to wake time, not the clock.
90-second rule (enforce throughout): Flow Block #1 begins within 90 seconds of waking — bathroom, then desk, then work. No morning routine before the first block. Any morning ritual (shower, coffee, journaling, stretching) is deferred to the Non-stimulating recovery block after Flow Block #1. This is the inverted morning routine: work first, recover after. If the user asks about a morning routine, explain this and ask what specifically they want to preserve — then slot it into the 8–9 AM recovery block, not before wake.
Step 1 — Isolate the Target (book)
Frame: "If you could snap your fingers and have one thing done in a day that would normally take a month — what is it? One target. Clear goals filter noise."
- One question: "What's the goal?"
- Sharpen (workflow) — if vague (e.g. "make progress on the book"), push for a concrete completion criterion. "Done" must be observable by 8 PM. Examples to mirror back:
- "Ship the v1 draft of chapters 1–3, ~12k words, sent to my editor."
- "Cut the SaaS landing page to one screen, copy + design + deploy."
- "Close out 30 of the 47 open tickets in the migration backlog."
- Break into actionable steps (book) — propose 5–10 sequential sub-tasks, ordered the way the user will execute them. User edits / reorders / adds.
Exit: one sentence target ("By 8 PM I will have ___") + ordered sub-task list. Both go into the brief.
Step 2 — Clear the Load (book)
Three sub-loads. Walk all three, in order.
2a — Allostatic load (body/brain wear)
Ask:
- "What's your sleep plan tonight?" Push to 7–9h, bed deaf-blind-cold-hungry. (book)
- "Any active recovery before bed?" Offer 3–4 options sized to time available: nature walk, sauna, weights, massage, easy stretch.
- (optional) "Tracking HRV? Aim above your usual range."
2b — Cognitive load (working memory)
Pre-empt every decision the morning would otherwise force.
- "What clothes will you wear? Lay them out tonight."
- "Where will you work? Confirm the workspace is uncluttered and the first sub-task is open and ready to touch the moment you sit down (a 'flow dojo'). (book) The goal is zero decisions between waking and starting — this is what makes the 90-second rule possible."
- "Open loops — texts, emails, dangling tasks, things you owe people. List them now; we close them before bed." Generate the list with the user, then mark each closed/deferred.
2c — Life maintenance load (running your life)
- "Meals for the day — prepped, or a plan that requires no decisions?"
- "Chores or errands that'll nag you tomorrow?" Handle tonight or explicitly defer.
- "Who needs to know you'll be offline? Notify them now." Offer a one-line script: "Going dark tomorrow on a focused work day — back [time]. For emergencies, reach [contact]."
Exit: a checklist of every load-clearing action, each marked ✅ done tonight, ⏰ scheduled, or ⚠️ skipped (with reason). Skipped items are flagged to the user — these are tomorrow's risk surface.
Step 3 — Build the Flow Fortress (book)
Five sub-areas. Be concrete — vague answers ("I'll silence my phone") get pushed to specifics ("phone off, in the locked drawer in the kitchen, by 9 PM tonight").
- Kill the phone — Off. Out of sight, ideally out of reach. Where exactly?
- Go dark on comms — No email, texts, calls, messaging. All notifications off (system-level, not just per-app). Pre-notify list confirmed (from Step 2c). Emergency contact named.
- Block digital distractions — Which sites/apps will pull you? Generate 5–10 likely candidates based on the user's domain (social, news, Slack, Discord, YouTube, etc.). Pick a blocker (Self Control, Freedom, Cold Turkey) and set the schedule covering all four flow blocks.
- Quiet zone — Workspace location confirmed. If home isn't viable (roommates, kids, construction), name the alternate (hotel, co-working, library) and lock it tonight — no morning-of decision.
- Self-distraction defense — Notepad on desk for stray thoughts. (book) When friction hits: deep breath, short walk, or stare at a wall until you crave working again. Confirm the notepad is physically placed.
Exit: the Fortress section of the brief, each item with a specific commitment ("phone OFF in locked kitchen drawer at 9 PM").
Step 4 — Cement the Commitment (book)
Ritualize. Treat the One-Month Day as sacred — not a regular workday with extra effort.
- Heighten the consequences — propose 2–3 forms of skin-in-the-game, scaled to user appetite:
- Financial: book the hotel/co-working space tonight (sunk cost), or stake $X with a friend forfeited if you break the schedule.
- Social: tell a specific person you'll text them the result by 8 PM.
- Identity: "This is the kind of day [the person I'm becoming] does."
User picks one, names the specific commitment.
- Schedule pleasurable recovery (book) — what's the reward at 8 PM? Massage, beach, big healthy meal, a specific film. Lock it tonight.
Exit: one stake + one reward, both written into the brief.
Step 5 — Lock the Schedule (book)
Render the Flow Block Stacking Schedule, anchored to the user's wake time. Default anchor = 5 AM; shift everything by the delta if the user picked a different wake time.
| # | Block | Default time (5 AM anchor) | Notes |
|---|
| 1 | Flow Block #1 — Wake & Flow | 5:00–8:00 AM | 90-second rule: bathroom → desk → work. No phone, no morning routine. Highest-priority sub-task. Push past initial struggle. |
| 2 | Non-stimulating recovery | 8:00–9:00 AM | Inverted morning routine: this is when the morning ritual happens — shower, coffee, stretch, journaling. Not before Flow Block #1. Optional: 100mg caffeine + 200mg L-theanine. |
| 3 | Flow Block #2 | 9:00 AM–12:00 PM | Restart the cycle. |
| 4 | Non-stimulating recovery | 12:00–1:00 PM | Nap, walk, fuel meal, stretch. |
| 5 | Flow Block #3 | 1:00–3:00 PM | Two more hours. |
| 6 | Active recovery | 3:00–5:00 PM | Bath, luxurious nap, full workout. Optional massage. |
| 7 | Flow Block #4 | 5:00–8:00 PM | Marathon finish. Water, fresh air, epic tunes. Leave nothing in the tank. |
For each block, ask the user to:
- Confirm the time (or shift it).
- Name the specific sub-task they'll work on (from Step 1).
- For recovery blocks: pick the specific activity (not "recovery" — "20-min cold plunge + walk to the cafe").
If the user has hard constraints from intake (a kid pickup, an unmovable call), surface them now and rearrange. Don't pretend they don't exist.
Exit: schedule with all 7 blocks filled in — time, task, and (for recovery) specific activity.
Step 6 — Output
Ask: "How do you want this delivered?" Offer three modes — pick one or both of the first two:
Mode A — Markdown brief
- Locate the notes vault. Check, in order:
~/Documents/Second Brain/ (known Obsidian vault)~/Obsidian/, ~/Documents/Obsidian/, any directory containing .obsidian/- Run
find ~ -maxdepth 4 -type d -name ".obsidian" 2>/dev/null if not found in known paths.
- Pick the file path:
- If a daily-notes folder exists (e.g.
Calendar/Notes/YYYY-MM-DD.md), append to (or create) the daily note for the One-Month Day date, not today.
- Otherwise, create
<vault>/One-Month Day - YYYY-MM-DD.md.
- If no vault is found, fall back to
~/Documents/One-Month Day - YYYY-MM-DD.md and tell the user.
- Render the brief using the template below.
- Confirm the path with the user before writing.
Mode B — Calendar events
- Check tooling. This mode requires a Google Calendar MCP (
mcp__claude_ai_Google_Calendar__*). If unavailable, say so and offer Mode A instead — do not fabricate a workaround.
- Pick the calendar. List calendars (
list_calendars), show the user, ask which one. Default to their primary if they don't care.
- Create one event per block (7 events total) on the One-Month Day date. Title each event:
🎯 Flow Block #1 — [sub-task name]🌿 Recovery — [activity]- etc.
Use emoji prefixes only if the user is OK with emoji (default: yes for calendar legibility, but ask if unclear).
- Event description = the relevant section of the brief (sub-task, notes, link to brief if Mode A also chose).
- Confirm before creating — show the 7 events as a summary, get explicit OK, then create.
Mode C — Both
Run Mode A, then Mode B. Cross-link: brief footer points to "Calendar: events created on [calendar name]"; calendar event #1 description points to the brief path.
Brief Template (used in Mode A)
# One-Month Day — [YYYY-MM-DD, Day of week]
## Target
**By 8 PM I will have:** [target sentence]
### Sub-tasks (in order)
1. [sub-task]
2. [sub-task]
...
## Load Cleared
### Allostatic
- [✅/⏰/⚠️] [item]
### Cognitive
- [✅/⏰/⚠️] [item]
- Open loops closed: [list]
### Life maintenance
- [✅/⏰/⚠️] [item]
⚠️ **Skipped (risk surface):** [list, or "none"]
## Flow Fortress
- **Phone:** [specific commitment]
- **Comms:** [specific commitment]
- **Digital blockers:** [tool + sites + schedule]
- **Quiet zone:** [location]
- **Self-distraction defense:** [notepad + protocol]
## Commitment
- **Stake:** [the consequence]
- **Reward (8 PM):** [the recovery activity]
## Schedule
| Time | Block | Task / Activity |
|---|---|---|
| 5:00–8:00 | Flow Block #1 | [sub-task] |
| 8:00–9:00 | Non-stim recovery | [activity] |
| 9:00–12:00 | Flow Block #2 | [sub-task] |
| 12:00–1:00 | Non-stim recovery | [activity] |
| 1:00–3:00 | Flow Block #3 | [sub-task] |
| 3:00–5:00 | Active recovery | [activity] |
| 5:00–8:00 | Flow Block #4 | [sub-task] |
## Tomorrow night (Recovery)
- Relish the flow afterglow.
- One-line debrief: what worked, what didn't, what's the next One-Month Day target?
---
*Source: Rían Doris / Flow Research Collective — One-Month Day Checklist.*
What this skill does NOT do
- Does not run during the day. Execution is on the user — the brief and the calendar are the deliverables. A separate
one-month-day-execute mode could exist later but is out of scope here.
- Does not handle Recovery (next-day debrief). The brief includes a one-line debrief prompt, but a full debrief workflow is a follow-up skill.
- Does not argue with wake time, target choice, or stake size. The user owns the inputs; the skill structures them.
- Does not invent a calendar tool if Google Calendar MCP isn't available. Falls back to Mode A.
