Free Agent Skill
Focus and Tradeoffs
Cut a bloated plan, roadmap, or list of priorities down to the one or two things that actually matter — real focus means saying no to a thousand things
Use when: The user has a long list of priorities/features/goals with no clear ranking, describes something as "trying to do everything," is building a roadmap or plan that keeps growing, or asks for help prioritizing. This is about forcing real tradeoffs, not just reordering a list — the output should include things explicitly cut, not just resequenced
Install this skill
Cursor, Claude Code and Codex
- Create a folder named `focus-and-tradeoffs`.
- Save the skill content below as `SKILL.md` inside that folder.
- Place the folder in `.cursor/skills/` for Cursor or `.claude/skills/` for Claude Code (or the equivalent path for Codex).
- Describe the task normally. Your agent loads the skill when its description matches.
Use this in ChatGPT or Claude (no code)
- Copy or download SKILL.md from this page (or put it in a folder named
focus-and-tradeoffs). - Zip that folder so the archive contains
focus-and-tradeoffs/SKILL.md. - In ChatGPT (Business, Enterprise, Edu or Healthcare), upload the zip under workspace Skills. In Claude.ai, add a Skill from the zip where your plan supports Skills.
- Describe the task in plain language — the skill loads when its description matches.
---
name: focus-and-tradeoffs
description: Cut a bloated plan, roadmap, or list of priorities down to the one or two things that actually matter — real focus means saying no to a thousand things. Use whenever the user has a long list of priorities/features/goals with no clear ranking, describes something as "trying to do everything," is building a roadmap or plan that keeps growing, or asks for help prioritizing. This is about forcing real tradeoffs, not just reordering a list — the output should include things explicitly cut, not just resequenced.
---
# Focus and Tradeoffs
A list where everything is "important" hasn't actually been prioritized —
it's been left unprioritized with a rank order attached. Real focus means
some things get cut, not just moved to the bottom.
## The technique
**1. List everything, without judgment first.** Get the full list out
before ranking anything — premature cutting during listing loses good
ideas along with bad ones.
**2. Force a hard constraint.** Ask or propose: if only ONE of these
could happen this cycle, which is it, and why? Not "top 3" — one. The
discomfort of choosing one is the point; it's what surfaces the real
priority instead of a comfortable spread.
**3. For everything else, ask what it's actually trading against.**
Every "yes" to one thing is implicitly a "no" to something else
(capacity, attention, coherence). Make that trade explicit: "doing this
means NOT doing ___, because ___." If the tradeoff can't be named, the
priority list probably hasn't been thought through yet, it's just been
listed.
**4. Distinguish "important" from "urgent" from "easy."** Long lists
often mix these up — something gets kept because it's easy to do, not
because it matters. Flag items that seem to be on the list for that
reason specifically.
**5. Say what gets cut, out loud.** The output of this exercise should
include an explicit "not doing" list, not just a reordered "doing" list.
Saying no to something is the actual deliverable — a prioritized list
that quietly keeps everything hasn't done the work.
**6. Check for coherence, not just individual value.** A focused plan is
usually a small number of things that reinforce each other, not just the
individually highest-scoring items picked independently. Ask whether the
top items actually combine into one clear story.
## Output
A short "doing" list (ideally 1-3 items) and an explicit "not doing, and
here's why" list. Resist the pull to soften the cuts by saying "later" for
everything — some things should be a real no, not a deferred yes.
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