Template
Personal Manual
A written manual of how you work — your best conditions, your triggers, your recovery methods — plus a playbook of pre-committed if-then rules, written while you're well so you don't negotiate with yourself when you're not.
You know yourself better than anyone — but that knowledge only helps if it's written down where it can run your decisions. The manual has two halves: the operating notes, which describe how you work, and the playbook, which pre-commits what you'll do when specific conditions hit. The Two Equilibria Map is the picture underneath both; the manual is the written artefact you actually consult.
Credit: Outstride original
The operating notes: how I work
- To perform at my best I need eight hours of sleep, three workouts a week and at least half a day alone.
- I get my deep work done in the mornings — so I push meetings to the afternoon.
- Conferences are a trigger for me — travel, hotels, caffeine and late drinks stack up — so afterwards I book a full recovery day before anything else lands.
The playbook: if-then rules
- If my burnout score is above 7/10, I book a vacation — that week, not next month.
- If I've slept under six hours, I cancel the non-critical meetings rather than run them badly.
- If a sprint is coming — a launch, a fundraise — the recovery block on the far side goes in the calendar before the sprint starts.
How to build it and keep it alive
Source it from evidence
The Energy Audit tells you when you're green and what turns you red; the Two Equilibria Map names your triggers and recovery moves; the 7 Core Founder Needs name what has to be funded. The manual collects what they find.
Wire the rules into your habit stacks
The daily burnout score gives the playbook its trigger data, and the Monday question "what might trigger me this week?" is the manual doing its job in advance.
Enforce the calendar rules through the Energy Audit
"Deep work in the mornings" is a manual entry; meetings actually sitting in the afternoon is a calendar fact. The monthly audit is where you check the two still match.
Share it
Give your cofounder or partner the triggers and the thresholds. A rule someone else can hold you to is worth three you only promised yourself.
The whole point of pre-commitment: from inside a bad stretch you will not invent good rules — you'll negotiate. Write the playbook from the good equilibrium, and let past-you make the call.
Source / credit
Outstride original
Related capabilities
Related tools
Work with Ben
Want help installing this?
Outstride OS is the system behind Ben's founder coaching — pre-seed to Series C. If this page names something you are living right now, start a conversation.