Your Indie Operating System

Ever feel like your workdays are a scattered mess—tasks piling up, energy dipping, and progress stalling? The relief comes not from squeezing in more hours but from finding a steady rhythm that turns intention into momentum.

Why a Daily Protocol Matters

A light daily protocol transforms good intentions into shipped work. It’s not a rigid routine; it’s a rhythm. Morning sets direction. Midday delivers a slice. Evening closes the loop and lowers tomorrow’s ramp. You can run it in under an hour on busy days and stretch it on days with more space. The shape repeats until it becomes the way you build.

Morning: Set Direction

Morning is short—about fifteen minutes to focus and prime your day. Your steps:

• Review your numbers and your proof log.
• Glance at the theme and lever you chose on Sunday.
• Check yesterday’s artifact.
• Pick one slice that fits your energy:
  • If sharp: choose a user-visible change moving the current lever.
  • If flat: pick a couch-mode slice that still produces proof.
• If you need a nudge, make a tiny public commitment—one line stating the artifact and the time box.
• Prime your sprint by opening the exact file, writing “Ship:” with the outcome, and setting a timer block on your calendar.

Sprint: Ship the Slice

The sprint is where you ship. Run a focused box of 25 to 60 minutes. Key actions:

• Keep the scope honest.
• End on time.
• If you drift, hit the red button and push a rough artifact out.
• When you ship, ask one person for one action:
  • Pick a channel you can monitor.
  • Ask a measurable question.
  • Log the send time to track feedback latency.
• The sprint ends when a link exists or an image is captured and your ask is out.

Evening: Close the Loop

Evening takes five minutes to update and prepare. Your checklist:

• Update your tiny tracker:
  • Proof yes/no.
  • Slices and sessions.
  • Finish rate (if you compute daily).
  • Any ask sent with first reply time (if arrived).
• Write one line on what you learned.
• Stage tomorrow’s first move:
  • Open the file you will change.
  • Write the first line you will type.
• Close the laptop with the sense that the next start will be easy.

Chaotic Days

When days explode, compress the protocol:

• Check the log on your phone in the morning and write the slice outcome in a note.
• Steal a 15-minute box to move a button or send three DMs.
• In the evening, log the pixel and stage a single sentence for tomorrow.

The protocol survives because it is flexible—you skip nothing essential: direction, a small ship, and a close.

Spacious Days

On spacious days, stack your sprints:

• Run two sprint boxes with a break.
• Ship a slice in each.
• Ask twice.
• Update the log.
• Post a short reel in your channel to share progress.

If you feel a groove, protect it by closing tabs and ignoring tasks that don’t move the lever. Use energy ladders to avoid wasting peak moments on chores.

When You Can’t Touch Product

Even when travel or calendar chaos keeps you from coding, run a proof-and-ask day:

• Share a clip from last week.
• Write a short case study.
• DM someone who helped and ask one question.

The system bends without breaking.

Momentum as Muscle Memory

The more you run this protocol, the more your body knows what comes next. You sit, glance, choose, ship, ask, log, and stage. The steps shrink. The ramps flatten. Momentum stops being a trick and becomes your operating system—ready to build on as you move into weekly rhythms and retention strategies in the next chapter.