self-watch

name: self-watch description: | Use this skill whenever the operator names an inner-state pattern that benefits from a soft observation — boredom (different from stuck or tired), hiding (high activity without exposure), procrastinating (pivoting to easier work mid-hard-task), stuck on a problem that's a symptom of a layer-up problem, fun / useful conflation hiding real motivation, urge to add more inputs when sitting with what you have would beat more research, 30+ min stuck + no body break, real win that just landed and the operator is pivoting to "what's next" without acknowledging, body / personal-maintenance signals deferred under task-focus, reading-aspirations mentioned without capture. Triggers include "I'm not feeling it", "this is dragging", "I keep zoning out", "I'm fried", "exhausted", "wired but tired" (am-i-bored / body-and-maintenance); "I've been working on this forever" + low exposure signals (am-i-hiding); "I'm stuck", "I keep doing X but", "I should be doing Y but", "let me clean up instead", "I'm just going to refactor" (am-i-procrastinating); 20+ min on the same specific problem (is-this-the-real-problem); fun-disguised-as-useful or useful-disguised-as-fun framing (is-this-fun-or-useful); about to add more research / options / frameworks when sitting with the data would surface the answer (silence-skill); 30+ min stuck + no body break (take-a-walk); "I just shipped", "did it", "finally" (take-the-win — pause before "what's next"); "I should read", "want to check out", "saw a great article on", "[person] recommended" (unread-list — capture); a phrase / metaphor / framing the operator keeps using across sessions, coined terms surfacing repeatedly (vocabulary-tracker — capture so the recurring vocabulary stays intentional vs drifts silently). Consult the skill's rules/ folder for the matching observation (am-i-bored, am-i-hiding, am-i-procrastinating, body-and-maintenance, is-this-fun-or-useful, is-this-the-real-problem, silence-skill, take-a-walk, take-the-win, unread-list, vocabulary-tracker, self-check, one-real-conversation-per-day, screen-time-honest). Soft teaching response across all rules; never pathologizes; names patterns and yields. Do NOT use during solo-run mode (contract handles inner-state), when the operator has explicitly invoked "stop fussing", in explore mode where states like stuckness are part of exploration, or when the operator has already named the state and is acting on it deliberately. license: MIT — see plugin LICENSE metadata: priority: low promptSignals: phrases: - "I'm not feeling it" - "this is dragging" - "I keep zoning out" - "I've been working on this forever" - "I'm stuck" - "I keep doing X but" - "I should be doing Y but" - "let me clean up instead" - "let me just clean up" - "let me just clean up the" - "before diving into the harder" - "let me organize first" - "let me update the plan" - "I'm just going to refactor" - "I'm fried" - "exhausted" - "wired but tired" - "can't focus" - "going for a walk" - "I just shipped" - "did it" - "finally" - "I should read" - "want to check out" - "saw a great article on" - "recommended" - "added to my list" - "haven't gotten to yet" - "let me add one more" - "more research" - "I keep saying" - "I've been using this term" - "let me coin a phrase" - "the way I think about it" - "when did I last eat" - "haven't showered" - "did I talk to anyone real today" - "talk to anyone real today" - "no real conversation today" - "brain is mush"

Fourteen rules around operator inner state — moods, motivation, hiding patterns, recurring vocabulary, reading aspirations, bodily maintenance, screen fatigue, and human-connection drift.

Rules

Pattern	Rule
Bored (not stuck, not tired)	am-i-bored
High activity, low exposure (hiding)	am-i-hiding
Pivoting to side work to avoid hard primary	am-i-procrastinating
Body / personal-maintenance signals deferred under task-focus	body-and-maintenance
Fun / useful conflation hiding real motivation	is-this-fun-or-useful
Stuck on a problem that may not be the real problem	is-this-the-real-problem
Adding more inputs when sitting with what you know is needed	silence-skill
Stuck >30 min; body mode often surfaces insight	take-a-walk
Real win just landed; pause and acknowledge	take-the-win
Reading aspiration mentioned without capture	unread-list
Recurring phrase / metaphor / coined term across sessions	vocabulary-tracker
Bodily / personal upkeep deferring silently (end-of-day / weekly)	self-check
A day of only transactional contact — no real conversation	one-real-conversation-per-day
Wired-but-tired after a screen-heavy day	screen-time-honest

Dispatch

Match the operator's self-observation to the rule. Apply. Yield.

Suppression rules

Mode is solo-run (contract handles inner-state)
Already addressed this pattern this session
Operator explicitly invoked "stop fussing" / "leave me alone"

What this skill never does

Pathologize the operator's state
Force a specific response (rest, push, pivot)
Lecture on inner-life theory