Glossary

Every key term from this course, in plain English. If a lesson ever uses a word that makes you pause, it'll be here.

Outcome List

Your short list of results you're actually trying to produce — not tasks, but done-states. Three per week beats forty tasks.

Time thief

Any recurring pattern that steals hours without producing outcomes: pointless meetings, notification checking, low-value yeses.

Week container

The designed shape of your week — each weekday given a job (e.g., Monday = planning, Tuesday–Thursday = deep work, Friday = review).

Power block

A protected 90–120 minute chunk for deep work, scheduled when your energy is highest. No meetings, no notifications, no exceptions.

Energy map

Your honest inventory of when you're sharp vs. drained across the day. Deep work goes in the peaks; admin goes in the valleys.

Friday Reset

The weekly review ritual: score the week honestly, roll unfinished outcomes forward on purpose, and plan next week's three outcomes.

Shutdown ritual

A 10–15 minute end-of-day routine that closes loops, parks tomorrow's start, and gives your brain permission to stop.

Batching

Grouping similar small tasks into one block instead of scattering them across the day. Email, errands, admin — one block each.

The word that protects everything

No. The complete sentence. Every yes to something low-value is a no to a power block.

Burnout

What happens when output chronically exceeds recovery. The course treats it as a scheduling failure, not a personal one.

Minimum viable week

The stripped-down version of your system for chaotic weeks: three outcomes, one power block a day, Friday Reset. The floor you never go below.

Altitude

Planning at the right level: yearly direction, quarterly goals, weekly outcomes, daily blocks. Most people live at task altitude and wonder why nothing compounds.

Done-state

The specific, observable condition that means an outcome is finished. 'Website live' beats 'work on website.'

Recovery

Deliberate non-work time that restores energy: sleep, movement, real days off. Scheduled like work, not squeezed into leftovers.