Reduce commitments ~30% during high-demand months vs…
Reduce project commitments by approximately thirty percent during months you have identified as high-demand compared to baseline months, based on your measured capacity data.
When This Fires
- When planning project commitments for an upcoming high-demand period
- When you notice you always overcommit in certain months and underdeliver
- When implementing Make at least one structural adjustment before each…'s structural adjustments and deciding how much to reduce
- Complements Audit the past 12 months of calendar data — rate each… (seasonal audit), Make at least one structural adjustment before each… (structural adjustment), and Forecast high-demand capacity from last year's same-period… (reference class) as the specific commitment-level action
Common Failure Mode
Equal commitment across all months: planning 5 active projects per month regardless of seasonal demand. During baseline months, 5 projects are manageable. During high-demand months, 5 projects plus seasonal obligations exceed capacity, producing the familiar pattern of December burnout and January guilt about what didn't get done.
The Protocol
(1) Calculate your baseline monthly project load: how many active projects do you carry during a normal month? (2) For months rated as high-demand in your seasonal audit (Audit the past 12 months of calendar data — rate each…), multiply by 0.7: if baseline is 5 projects, high-demand months get 3-4. (3) For crisis months, multiply by 0.5: if baseline is 5, crisis months get 2-3. (4) Apply the reduction proactively: decline, defer, or delegate projects before the high-demand period starts (Make at least one structural adjustment before each…). Don't wait until you're overwhelmed. (5) Calibrate the percentage using your actual data: if you consistently complete 3 projects in high-demand months despite planning 5, your actual capacity reduction is 40%, not 30%. Adjust accordingly.