Illustrative example · not a real participant
One week of Work Recovery, from Monday to the conversation.
Everything below is written for one fictional person so you can see the shape of a week. Your own week would read differently, because it starts from your answers.
- Who
- Tom, 38 — fictional example
- Lives in
- Ghent, Belgium
- Work
- Team lead at a logistics company, four days a week
- Situation
- Still working, but evenings have stopped giving anything back
- Week
- Week 2 of 8
- Picked friction
- Digital availability
1 · Tuesday's check-in
Four taps, then one action sized to the day.
What Tom tapped
- Energy
- Low
- Tension
- Tight
- Sleep
- Poor
- Today looks
- Heavy
Took him about twenty seconds. No streak, no score, nothing to keep up.
Today's small action
Protect one thing, let the rest be ordinary
Today isn't the day for extra. Pick the single task that has to move, and give yourself permission to do the rest at a plain, unremarkable standard. Before the first meeting, sit for two minutes without a screen.
Low energy and a heavy day asks less of him, not more. On a good, light day the same check-in suggests using the room for the work he keeps postponing.
2 · The weekly friction scan
One thing about work, changed on purpose.
He picked
Digital availability
“Drivers message me until eleven at night and I always answer. By the time I stop, I'm too wired to sleep.”
This week's experiment
A closing time for messages
No work messages after 20:00. One person on the team knows the time, and they've agreed a phone call is the route if something genuinely can't wait.
The frame
- Owner
- Tom
- Starts
- Monday
- Runs for
- 7 days
- Then
- Keep or drop
Why this one
Tom's check-ins that week showed poor sleep on four nights out of five, and he'd marked availability as the thing costing him most. The change is small, reversible and doesn't need anyone's permission — which is exactly what makes it possible to actually try. He could also have edited it, shortened it to three days, or declined it entirely.
3 · Preparing the conversation
A short, functional message he can actually send.
Drafted from his own experiment, not from his check-ins. No mood, no notes, nothing about how he's feeling — just the practical change and what he's asking for. He edits it before it goes anywhere.
Hi, I'd like to change one practical thing in how I work for the next few weeks, and I want to check it with you. What I want to adjust: digital availability. The change: A closing time for messages — I won't open work messages after 20:00. Jonas knows the time, and if something truly can't wait he'll call. For how long: 7 days, then I'll look at whether it helped. What I'm aiming for: Evenings stop being an extension of the working day. If that affects anything on your side, I'd rather adjust it now than find out later. Thanks, Tom
Drafts are generated from what you filled in and are always editable. Copy as text or save as a PDF.
Your week would read differently.
The intake takes a few minutes and can be paused. The first week is free.
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