Capacity Leak Triage — Stop the Bleed Before You Fix the Bucket
A free, printable emergency patch protocol, not a long-term fix. You cannot fill a bucket with a hole in the bottom. Identify up to three active drains, assign each a fate, and take one micro-action to stop the bleed today. Built for acute overload, not sustainable planning.
What Is a Capacity Leak?
A capacity leak is anything actively draining your energy, time, or attention right now, in a way that undermines everything else you’re trying to do — a conflict left unresolved, a commitment that no longer fits, a task quietly eating more time than it should. Leaks are different from a generally full workload; they’re active and specific.
This worksheet (module BC-04) is deliberately not a full life audit. It’s a fast, emergency-patch tool for identifying up to three active leaks and doing one thing about each of them today.
How to Use the Capacity Leak Triage
- Identify up to three leaks. Not everything draining you — just the top three, the ones costing the most right now.
- Assign each a fate. Drop, pause, reduce, delegate, or delay. Pick one; “think about it more” isn’t a fate.
- Choose one micro-action per leak. Something doable today, not a five-step plan — the smallest possible move that starts the fate you picked.
- Do the micro-actions, not the whole fix. This worksheet stops the bleed. The full resolution can come later, once you’re not actively leaking capacity.
The Five Fates
Is This the Same as a Priority Matrix?
Related, but built for emergencies rather than routine planning. A priority matrix usually sorts a full task list by importance and urgency; this worksheet is narrower on purpose, capped at three leaks, because in an acute overload state, a full sorting exercise is itself too much to take on.
The bucket metaphor is the whole point: you can’t productively fill a bucket that’s actively leaking. This worksheet exists to patch the leak first, not to replace the longer-term work of refilling.
Capacity Leak Triage // BC-04 // Free PDF Download
Download the Worksheet (PDF)Frequently Asked Questions
What if I have more than three leaks?
Pick the three costing you the most right now. This worksheet is intentionally capped — trying to triage everything at once usually means nothing actually gets addressed. The rest can wait for a less acute moment.
What if none of the five fates feel right for a leak?
Push yourself to pick the closest one anyway. The fates are deliberately broad, and “none of these fit” is often avoidance in disguise — a rough fit now beats no decision at all.
Is this meant to replace addressing the underlying problem?
No. This is explicitly a stop-the-bleed tool for acute moments, not a substitute for the deeper conversation, boundary, or life change a leak might actually require once the emergency has passed.
Is this a substitute for therapy?
No. It’s a self-tracking tool that can support therapy or personal insight work, but it isn’t a treatment on its own and isn’t a substitute for working with a licensed clinician.
Is it really free?
Yes. It’s a free PDF download, no email required.