Capacity Inventory — Plan Against Today, Not the Ideal Week
A free, printable worksheet that maps what you actually have available today — energy, focus, patience — so plans get built against reality instead of the ideal week you keep scheduling for. Built for chronic illness, burnout, ADHD, and anyone whose capacity varies more than their calendar accounts for.
What Is a Capacity Inventory?
Most planning systems assume a roughly constant amount of daily capacity, and then treat any shortfall as a personal failure to keep up. For a lot of people — dealing with chronic illness, burnout, ADHD, or just an uneven week — capacity genuinely varies day to day, and planning against a fictional constant sets the day up to fail before it starts.
This worksheet (module BC-03) takes stock of what’s actually available today, across a few specific categories, before any planning happens.
How to Use the Capacity Inventory
- Fill it out early. Ideally in the morning, before the day has a chance to talk you out of an honest answer.
- Rate each category separately. Energy, focus, and patience don’t move together — you can be low on one and fine on another.
- Compare it to your task list. Look at what’s planned for today against what you’ve just mapped, and notice the mismatches.
- Adjust the day, not just the feeling. If capacity is low, that’s information to act on — move something, drop something, or lower the bar.
The Three Capacity Categories
Is This the Same as Spoon Theory?
Related in concept. This worksheet draws on the same core idea popularized by spoon theory — that daily capacity is a finite, variable resource that has to be budgeted rather than assumed — but breaks it into three specific categories instead of one general unit, since energy, focus, and patience often don’t run out at the same rate.
The point of separating the categories is precision. Someone who’s low on patience but fine on energy needs a different adjustment than someone who’s low on all three.
Capacity Inventory // BC-03 // Free PDF Download
Download the Worksheet (PDF)Frequently Asked Questions
What if all three categories are low on the same day?
That’s useful information too — it usually means the day needs to be scaled back more broadly, not just adjusted in one area. Treat a three-way low day as a signal to lower expectations across the board.
Should I fill this out every day?
Daily is ideal if you can manage it, since one day’s inventory doesn’t reliably predict the next, especially with conditions that fluctuate. Even a few times a week builds a useful pattern.
What do I do once I know my capacity is low?
That’s specific to your situation, but generally it means adjusting the day’s plan to match what’s actually available — deferring non-urgent tasks, lowering the bar on “done,” or building in more recovery time.
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.