# Drift — What Am I Avoiding? Compare stated intentions against actual behavior over the past 30-60 days. Surface gaps between what you say matters and where time and energy actually go. Find what's being avoided. **Usage:** `/drift` --- ## Step 1: Gather Stated Intentions Read context files for stated priorities, goals, and commitments: ```bash Obsidian read file="<Context File A>" Obsidian read file="<Context File B>" Obsidian read file="<Context File C>" ``` Extract: - Stated priorities and goals - Commitments made (to self and others) - Things marked as important or urgent - Open questions flagged for investigation - Experiments proposed but not yet run - Projects in "current" or "active" status Also check daily notes for stated intentions: ```bash Obsidian daily:read Obsidian read path="Daily Notes/YYYY-MM-DD.md" # past 30-60 days ``` Look for: - "I need to..." / "I should..." / "I want to..." statements - Carry-forward items from reflections - Things mentioned as tomorrow's priority - Recurring items that keep appearing ## Step 2: Gather Actual Behavior ### Calendar Analysis Use Google Calendar to pull the past 30 days: - Where did time actually go? (meeting types, projects, people) - How much time was protected for deep work vs. consumed by meetings? - Which projects got calendar time? Which got none? ### Tasks Pull all tasks: - What's overdue and by how long? - What keeps getting pushed? - What was completed vs. what sits? ### Daily Note Patterns Across the past 30 days of daily notes: - What topics come up repeatedly? - What topics appear once and vanish? - What gets energy (long writing, exclamation marks, ideas flowing)? - What gets avoidance (mentioned briefly, no follow-through, "I should...")? ### Vault Activity ```bash Obsidian search query="<stated priority A>" path="Daily Notes" # How often does this actually appear? Obsidian search query="<stated priority B>" path="Daily Notes" Obsidian backlinks file="<priority project note>" # Is anything linking TO this? ``` For each stated priority, measure how much actual vault activity it generated. ## Step 3: Message Review Review recent messages for commitment language: "I'll", "I'm going to", "let me", "will you", "did you", "following up", "I promised", "I owe you". This surfaces commitments without wading through casual messages. Look for: - Commitments made to others that haven't been fulfilled - Conversations about projects that got no follow-through - People you said you'd get back to ## Step 4: The Drift Report ### Alignment Score For each stated priority, rate alignment between intention and action (1-10): | Priority | Stated Importance | Actual Time/Energy | Alignment | Drift | |----------|------------------|-------------------|-----------|-------| | ... | High | Low | 3/10 | Significant | ### What's Getting Attention It Wasn't Supposed To Things consuming time that aren't in any priority list. Where is energy leaking? ### What's Being Avoided The uncomfortable list. Things that are clearly important (stated in context files, mentioned repeatedly) but consistently get no action. For each: - **What**: The thing being avoided - **Evidence**: How many times mentioned vs. how much action taken - **Possible why**: What might be driving the avoidance (fear, unclear next step, not actually important, too big, requires confrontation) - **The cost**: What's the cost of continued avoidance? #### Avoidance Decision Tree For each avoided item, classify: - **(a) Mentioned in past 7 days?** Yes = active avoidance. No = passive. - **(b) Related items getting done?** If yes, then the avoidance isn't about capacity. It's specific avoidance of THIS thing. Dig into why. - **(c) Has a clear next step?** If no, the avoidance may be about ambiguity, not resistance. Define one concrete action. - **(d) Requires someone else?** If yes, the block may be relational, not motivational. Identify who and what the ask is. ### Commitments to Others Promises made that haven't been kept. Overdue follow-ups. People waiting. ### Recurring Push Pattern Tasks or intentions that appear, get pushed, appear again, get pushed again. The loop. For each: - How many times has this cycled? - What breaks the loop? ### The Honest Assessment A direct, compassionate summary of where the drift is. Not judgmental. Just clear. "Here's what you said mattered. Here's what you actually did. Here's where they don't match." ### Recommended Corrections For each significant drift: - **Drop it**: If it keeps getting avoided, maybe it's not actually a priority. Remove it. - **Do it now**: If it genuinely matters, schedule it in the next 48 hours. - **Delegate it**: If it matters but you won't do it, who else can? - **Reframe it**: If the next step is unclear, define one concrete action. --- ## Output Format **DRIFT REPORT -- [Date range]** [Alignment table] [What's getting unplanned attention] [What's being avoided, with decision tree classification] [Commitments to others] [Recurring push patterns] [Honest assessment] [Recommended corrections] --- ## Output Guidelines - Be honest but not harsh. This is a mirror, not a critic. - Always cite specific dates, notes, and data. Vague drift reports are useless. - The most valuable insight is often the simplest: "You said X matters. You haven't touched it in 3 weeks." - Don't confuse busyness with avoidance. Some things legitimately got deprioritized. The real drift is things that STILL matter but aren't getting attention. - Distinguish between "dropped and should stay dropped" vs. "dropped and it's costing you."