managing-productivity

name	managing-productivity
effort	medium
description	Help manage productivity using a hybrid GTD + Energy/Time filtering system in Todoist with calendar integration. This skill should be used when the user asks "what should I be working on?", wants to process their inbox, needs to capture tasks, asks about project status, wants to view their schedule, needs to block time for tasks, wants to check upcoming meetings for preparation needs, or requests help with task management and productivity. The skill guides GTD-style task clarification, adds context/energy/time metadata to tasks, filters suggestions based on current context and actual calendar availability, can schedule tasks on the calendar, and proactively identifies upcoming calendar events that need preparation.

Managing Productivity (Todoist Edition)

Contents

• Overview
• On Invocation
• System Architecture
• Core Workflows
• Metadata System
• File Operations
• Conversation Style
• Obsidian Integration
• References

Overview

This skill implements a hybrid productivity system combining GTD (Getting Things Done) methodology with energy/time-based execution filtering and calendar integration.

On Invocation

First step - always check the current time:

date "+%A, %B %d, %Y at %I:%M %p"

This establishes:

• Current date — What "today" means for calendar queries
• Time of day — Determines energy recommendations:
  • Before 9am: Prime high-energy time
  • 9am-12pm: Morning, still good for high-energy work
  • 12pm-2pm: Post-lunch, typically medium/low energy
  • 2pm-5pm: Afternoon, medium energy
  • After 5pm: End of day, low energy tasks or wind-down
• Day of week — Relevant for weekly patterns (e.g., Monday planning, Friday wrap-up)

Second step - pre-load MCP tool schemas:

Use ToolSearch to load the Todoist write tools before you need them. This prevents parameter-guessing errors (e.g., using taskIds instead of ids).

ToolSearch: "+todoist complete add update"

This single query loads complete-tasks, add-tasks, and update-tasks so their parameter schemas are available for the session. Do this once at invocation — the tools stay loaded for the rest of the conversation.

Component	Purpose
Todoist (via MCP)	Task execution - inbox, next actions, waiting for, someday/maybe
Reminders (via iMCP)	Quick capture inbox, processed into Todoist
Calendar (via iMCP)	Availability checking, structured time blocking, meeting prep
Fantastical (via AppleScript)	Quick natural-language event creation
Reclaim.ai (via MCP)	Auto-scheduling tasks, habits, focus time protection
Email (via rusty-apple-mail MCP)	Read-only Apple Mail search and reading across all accounts
Obsidian	Project documentation and next action backlogs

Key Design Principle: Todoist is the execution layer (1-2 active tasks), Obsidian is the planning layer (full project backlogs).

Inboxes for Inbox Zero

The system tracks multiple inboxes that should be processed to zero:

Inbox	Location	How to Check
Todoist Inbox	Todoist project 6CrffChVJmwxG79h	mcp__todoist__find-tasks with projectId
Reminders Todo	Apple Reminders "Todo"	mcp__iMCP__reminders_fetch with lists: ["Todo"]

When user asks to "process inbox" or "check inboxes", check ALL tracked inboxes and report counts.

System Architecture

Todoist Backend

GTD Project Structure:

• Inbox (ID: 6CrffChVJmwxG79h) - Capture area for new items
• Next Actions (ID: 6fHPx2qmvwhq5x4X) - Single, physical, actionable tasks (limit 1-2)
• Projects (ID: 6fHPx2qMxx45cVm3) - Multi-step outcomes
• Waiting For (ID: 6fGQg8Mp7g5g8J9C) - Tasks blocked on others
• Someday/Maybe (ID: 6fHPx2qjgv2CGjpP) - Future possibilities

Calendar Integration

Three tools handle calendar operations, each with a distinct role:

Scenario	Tool	Why
Read/query calendar events	iMCP	Full event details, availability checking
Create event at specific time	iMCP	Full control over fields (notes, availability)
Quick event from natural language	Fantastical (AppleScript)	Fastest for fuzzy input
Auto-schedule (flexible timing)	Reclaim	AI finds best slot
Recurring GTD routines / habits	Reclaim	Auto-protects time
Focus time protection	Reclaim	Manages focus blocks
Time tracking	Reclaim	Start/stop task timers
Navigate calendar UI	Fantastical (URL scheme)	Opens to specific date

Details: See references/calendar-integration.md for tool parameters, examples, and limitations.

Email Integration

Integrates with email via rusty-apple-mail MCP (read-only access to Apple Mail) for:

• Searching emails by sender, recipient, subject, mailbox, or date range
• Reading email content, recipients, and attachments
• Triaging across multiple accounts (personal, business, sales)

Account selection: rusty-apple-mail returns opaque UUID account_id values. The static UUID → email-address mapping lives in references/email-accounts.md — load it before calling search_messages so you can pass the right account filter without re-discovering it. Default is the primary Gmail account for [e-mail].

Email MCP Tools:

• mcp__rusty-apple-mail__list_accounts - List Apple Mail accounts (UUIDs only — see reference for mapping)
• mcp__rusty-apple-mail__list_mailboxes - List mailboxes (optionally per account)
• mcp__rusty-apple-mail__search_messages - Search by account, mailbox, sender, participant, subject_query, date_from/date_to
• mcp__rusty-apple-mail__get_message - Get full message by message_id (set include_recipients=true for To/CC)
• mcp__rusty-apple-mail__get_attachment_content - Read attachment text

Note: rusty-apple-mail is read-only. Sending email is not currently supported — use the Mail app or Drafts for composition.

Obsidian Vault

Location: /Users/joec/obsidian-vault/

obsidian-vault/
├── 4_Projects/                 # Project documentation AND next action backlogs
│   └── [ProjectName].md        # Contains: outcome, context, full next action queue
├── 2_Literature Notes/         # Reference material from external sources
├── 3_Permanent Notes/          # Distilled evergreen knowledge
└── Templates/                  # Note templates

Division of Labor:

Location	Purpose	Content
Todoist Next Actions	Execution focus	Only 1-2 tasks you're actively working on today
Obsidian Project Notes	Planning & backlog	Full next action lists per project (the queue)
Todoist Projects	Project index	Links to Obsidian project notes
Todoist Waiting For	Blocking awareness	Items blocked on others

When you complete a Next Action in Todoist, prompt the user to "pull" the next action from the relevant Obsidian project note.

Core Workflows

1. What Should I Be Working On?

Triggers: "What should I be working on?", "What should I do next?", "Suggest a task"

Check calendar availability, ask context/energy, query Next Actions with filters, present top 3-5 options.

Details: See references/workflows/what-should-i-work-on.md

2. Process Inbox

Triggers: "Let's process my inbox", "Help me organize my tasks", "Check inboxes"

Check ALL tracked inboxes (Todoist Inbox + Reminders Todo List), report counts, then process each. Apply GTD clarification, add metadata, move to appropriate list.

Details: See references/workflows/process-inbox.md

3. Quick Capture

Triggers: "Add task: [description]", "Capture: [description]", "Todo: [description]"

Fast capture to Inbox without clarification. Offer to process immediately or later.

Details: See references/workflows/quick-capture.md

4. Project Check-in

Triggers: "What's the status of [project]?", "Show me my projects"

Search Projects, show next actions, waiting-for items, and Obsidian documentation link. Detect stalled projects.

Details: See references/workflows/project-checkin.md

5. Mark Task Complete

Triggers: "Done with [task]", "I completed [task]", "Finished [task]"

Mark complete in Todoist, then prompt to pull next action from Obsidian backlog if project-related.

Details: See references/workflows/mark-complete.md

6. Schedule Time for Task

Triggers: "Schedule [task]", "Block time for [task]", "Put [task] on my calendar"

Find available calendar slots matching task duration/energy, create calendar event.

Details: See references/workflows/schedule-time.md

7. Find Deep Work Time

Triggers: "When can I do deep work?", "Find time for focused work"

Find 2+ hour blocks in upcoming week, prioritize morning slots, suggest matching #energy-high tasks.

Details: See references/workflows/find-deep-work.md

8. What's My Day Look Like?

Triggers: "What's my schedule today?", "Show me my day", "What meetings do I have?", "What's my plan for the day?"

Present chronological overview with free blocks and task suggestions for each slot.

Important: Always check BOTH:

1. Calendar events for the day
2. Todoist tasks due today
3. Reminders "Todo" list — User captures items here via Siri throughout the day

Present Reminders items at the end as "Quick captures to process" if any exist.

Details: See references/workflows/daily-schedule.md

9. Prep for Upcoming Events

Triggers: "What do I need to prepare for?", "Do I have any meetings that need prep?"

Scan next 7 days for meetings needing preparation, suggest creating prep projects/tasks.

Details: See references/workflows/prep-for-events.md

10. Process Reminders Inbox

Triggers: "Process my reminders", "Check Reminders inbox"

Fetch incomplete items from Reminders "Todo" list, apply GTD clarification, move to Todoist/Obsidian, mark complete.

Details: See references/workflows/process-reminders.md

11. Quick Inbox Triage

Triggers: "Quick triage", "Fast inbox processing", "Speed through inbox"

Rapid inbox processing mode for when user wants to quickly clear items without full GTD clarification.

Flow:

1. Fetch all inbox items (Todoist + Reminders)
2. Present items in batches of 3-5
3. Accept shorthand commands:
   • remove / delete / x — Delete the item
   • done / complete / ✓ — Mark as completed
   • keep / next — Move to Next Actions with inferred metadata
   • someday / later — Move to Someday/Maybe
   • note — Convert to Permanent Note (triggers Zettelkasten flow)
4. For items marked keep, infer metadata automatically (don't ask)
5. Only pause to clarify if an item is too vague to keep (offer rewrite)

When to suggest this mode:

• Inbox has 5+ items
• User is giving rapid-fire responses ("remove it", "done", "nope")
• User explicitly asks to go faster

Metadata System

Context Labels

@home, @work, @computer, @phone, @errands, @anywhere

Energy Labels

#energy-high, #energy-medium, #energy-low

Duration

Use Todoist's native duration field: 5m, 15m, 30m, 1h, 2h

Priority

Use Todoist's native priority field: p1 (highest), p2 (high), p3 (medium), p4 (default/lowest)

Metadata Inference

When moving items to Next Actions, infer metadata from task content:

Context:

• "book", "search", "email", "write" → @computer
• "call", "text" → @phone
• "buy", "pick up", "drop off" → @errands

Energy:

• Creative work, strategic thinking, coding → #energy-high
• Meetings, planning, research → #energy-medium
• Admin tasks, booking, simple lookups → #energy-low

Time:

• "Quick", "check", "look up" → 5m
• "Call", "book", "send email" → 15m
• "Write", "research", "plan" → 30m to 1h

Use AskUserQuestion to confirm inferred values.

File Operations

Todoist Read:

• mcp__todoist__find-tasks - Search/filter tasks
• mcp__todoist__find-projects - List projects
• mcp__todoist__get-overview - Get account overview

Todoist Write:

• mcp__todoist__add-tasks - Create new tasks
• mcp__todoist__update-tasks - Modify existing tasks
• mcp__todoist__complete-tasks - Mark tasks complete
• mcp__todoist__delete-object - Delete tasks/projects

Obsidian:

• Use Read tool for project documentation in 4_Projects/
• Use Write tool to create new project notes
• Use Edit tool to update project documentation

Reminders (via iMCP):

• mcp__iMCP__reminders_lists - List available reminder lists
• mcp__iMCP__reminders_fetch - Get reminders (filter by list, completed status)
• mcp__iMCP__reminders_create - Create new reminders

Email (via rusty-apple-mail MCP — read-only):

• mcp__rusty-apple-mail__search_messages - Search/filter emails (account UUIDs in references/email-accounts.md)
• mcp__rusty-apple-mail__get_message - Read full email content
• mcp__rusty-apple-mail__list_accounts / list_mailboxes - Discovery

MCP Parameter Reference

Common parameter formats that differ from intuitive naming:

Todoist:

• mcp__todoist__complete-tasks — Use ids (array of strings), not taskIds
• mcp__todoist__delete-object — Use type and id, not objectType/objectId
• mcp__todoist__add-tasks — Priority must be string: "p1", "p2", "p3", "p4" (not numbers)
• Todoist priority values are inverted in the API: API priority: 4 = UI "P1" (highest/red), API priority: 1 = UI "P4" (lowest/no color). When reading task data back, don't be confused by this — a response showing priority: 4 means the task IS p1.
• mcp__todoist__find-tasks — Use searchText for text search, not query

iMCP Calendar:

• mcp__iMCP__events_fetch — Returns summary fields only (hasNotes, hasUrl, attendeeCount—not actual content)
• mcp__iMCP__events_get — Returns full details including notes content, createdAt, modifiedAt
• mcp__iMCP__events_create — Dates must be ISO 8601 with timezone: 2026-09-01T09:00:00Z
• mcp__iMCP__events_update — Use identifier and span ("thisEvent" or "futureEvents" for recurring)
• mcp__iMCP__events_delete — Use identifier and span ("thisEvent" or "futureEvents" for recurring)
• mcp__iMCP__reminders_complete — Use identifiers (array of UUID strings)

iMCP Reminders:

• List name is "Todo" (not "Todo List")

Conversation Style

• Be conversational but efficient
• Ask one question at a time during processing
• Provide clear options when asking for decisions
• Celebrate completions
• Be encouraging but not patronizing
• When filtering returns no matches, explain why and suggest relaxing criteria
• When referencing vault documents, use Obsidian URL scheme links (e.g., obsidian://open?vault=obsidian-vault&file=4_Projects%2FProjectName)

Output Formatting

All terminal output should follow the component patterns in references/output-components.md.

Key principles:

1. Use section headers to separate major blocks of output
2. Use aligned tables for task lists — keep metadata in columns, not inline
3. Use icons for energy levels: ⚡ high, ◐ medium, ○ low
4. Use icons for status: ● busy, ○ free, ✓ done, ⏳ waiting
5. Show progress indicators during multi-item processing (e.g., [3/12])
6. Include action footers showing available commands

Quick reference:

Section header:   ┌─────────────────────────────┐
                  │  📅 TITLE                   │
                  └─────────────────────────────┘

Subsection:       ── Title ─────────────────────

Task row:         1 │ Task description    ⚡  30m  @computer

Progress:         ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━  [3/12]

Recommendation:   ▸ Recommendation: #1 — reason

Action footer:    ─────────────────────────────
                  [k]eep  │  [d]elete  │  [s]kip

See references/output-components.md for the full component library with examples.

Note to Future Self

When processing inbox items, help rewrite vague captures into clear, actionable descriptions. Vague tasks become "orphans" that get deleted weeks later because the user can't remember what they meant.

Before keeping a task, ensure it answers:

• What specifically needs to be done?
• Why does this matter? (context/purpose)
• Where can I find more info? (links, project refs)

Examples:

Vague (Bad)	Clear (Good)
"Update git repo"	"Push local askchef-firebase changes to sync cloud functions with production"
"Follow up with John"	"Email John re: partnership proposal discussed at Dec 15 meeting"
"Look up that thing"	DELETE - if you can't remember, it's not important
"Research AI stuff"	"Research LLM fine-tuning approaches for customer support automation"

When a user's capture is vague, offer to help clarify before moving it to Next Actions.

Obsidian Integration

URI Link Generation

Basic format:

obsidian://open?vault=obsidian-vault&file=4_Projects%2F[ProjectName]

URL Encoding:

• Forward slashes (/) → %2F
• Spaces → %20
• Headings (#) → %23

Link to heading:

obsidian://open?vault=obsidian-vault&file=4_Projects%2F[ProjectName]%23Next%20Actions

Include in Todoist task descriptions:

[Task outcome description]

Context: obsidian://open?vault=obsidian-vault&file=4_Projects%2F[ProjectName]

Project Note Template

---
tags:
  - type/project
created: "YYYY-MM-DD, HH:MM"
updated: "YYYY-MM-DD, HH:MM"
status: active
todoist: https://app.todoist.com/app/task/[task-id]
---

# [Project Name]

## Desired Outcome
[What does "done" look like?]

## Context
[Background, research, decisions...]

## Next Actions
- [ ] First action @context #energy duration
- [ ] Second action @context #energy duration

**Currently in Todoist:** [active task name]

## Waiting For
- [ ] Person to do thing (requested YYYY-MM-DD)

## Notes
[Planning notes, links...]

Inbox to Permanent Note (Zettelkasten)

Some inbox items are ideas rather than tasks. These should become Permanent Notes in Obsidian, not Todoist tasks.

When to Create a Permanent Note

If the item is...	Then...
An insight or observation	→ Permanent Note
A content idea (blog, LinkedIn, video)	→ Permanent Note for the idea, optional task for the artifact
A question to explore	→ Permanent Note (or Question template)
A quote or concept to remember	→ Permanent Note
Something to do	→ Todoist task

Idea vs Artifact

For content ideas, separate the concept from the deliverable:

1. Permanent Note — Captures the core insight (evergreen, reusable)
2. Todoist Task (optional) — "Draft LinkedIn post based on [[Note Title]]"

The idea lives on even after the content is published and can inform future work.

Creating the Note

Use the vault's Permanent Note structure:

• Location: /Users/joec/obsidian-vault/3_Permanent Notes/
• Title: Descriptive, no timestamps (e.g., The Hidden Work Behind Just Let AI Do It.md)
• Include: tags, created/updated dates, Questions, Terms, References sections

See vault CLAUDE.md for full formatting standards.

Quick Command

During inbox processing, user can say note to trigger this flow instead of keeping as a task.

References

For detailed information, consult:

• references/gtd-workflow.md - Complete GTD clarification decision tree with examples
• references/energy-time-guide.md - Detailed guidelines for estimating energy and time requirements
• references/backend-mapping.md - Todoist MCP tool usage patterns and examples
• references/calendar-integration.md - Calendar MCP usage details

Load these references when:

• User asks detailed questions about the GTD process
• Uncertain how to categorize energy/time for a specific task type
• Processing complex or ambiguous inbox items
• Working with time blocking or deep work scheduling