# The Energy Audit — Debrief

> Nobody is drained in the abstract — the debrief is where a page of + / − / = turns into one dated swap worth testing.
> Use with `the-energy-audit-guide.md`. The swap phase at minute 12 is the compressed version; this sheet is the full one.

## How to run this debrief

- Keep the marked-up week on the table — the two circled items visible. The finding is a pattern, and patterns need to stay in view.
- Let them sit with the − column in silence first. Out loud, the first defence of every drain is always "it's required."
- Close on the swap card: one −, one +, one date. If the swap cannot be stated small enough to survive a busy week, it is not a swap — it is a wish.

## Read the marks

- Look at the − column without talking. Which drains are genuinely required, and which are just habitual?
- Is your biggest − something you'd defend if a stranger asked why you do it? If not, why is it still on the list?
- Which + did you mark late, as if you had to give yourself permission? That's the one you've been starving.
- Does the pattern match how you *describe* your week to others, or does it disagree? The disagreement is the finding.

## The eight debrief questions

**1. The trade.**
"What are you trading to keep this drain? Say it in one sentence — 'I keep it because…'."
→ Targets: turning a drift into a decision. If the trade can be named, it can be renegotiated.

**2. Decision or momentum.**
"If you can't name the trade — is this a decision, or momentum you never re-made?"
→ Targets: the difference between a choice and a default; most unexamined − items fail this question.

**3. Halve instead of drop.**
"Could it be halved or batched instead of dropped, so the trade is still honored but smaller?"
→ Targets: the survivable version of the swap. Full deletion dies in week two; a halved drain keeps the promise it was protecting.

**4. Who would notice.**
"Who would notice if it went — and would that be load-bearing, or just the first thing anyone saw?"
→ Targets: separating real dependencies from visibility anxiety.

**5. The smallest plus.**
"What is the smallest version of the + you're adding back — so small it survives a busy week?"
→ Targets: restoration sized to reality. The starved plus starved because it was scheduled at full size.

**6. The two-week read.**
"How will you know in two weeks whether the swap helped, tired you out, or changed nothing?"
→ Targets: an honest pre-registered outcome — including "nothing," which is data, not failure.

**7. The pull-back.**
"What will you say to yourself when old momentum pulls the − back onto the list?"
→ Targets: rehearsing the relapse, because it will come; the swap card's date is the anchor.

**8. The concrete swap.**
"What exactly will you do differently, on which day, starting when?"
→ Targets: the commitment in calendar form. "Less meetings" is a mood; "Thursday's standing call, dropped, from next week" is a swap.

## Failure modes of the debrief

| Failure mode | Why it happens | The rescue |
|---|---|---|
| Everything is a drain | You're listing outcomes and obligations, not activities | Go concrete — "the Tuesday status call," not "reporting." Nobody drains you in the abstract. |
| Not a single + on the page | The small ones got skipped | "What did you do twice last week that cost almost nothing and didn't grind you down?" Start there. |
| The swap is too big to survive | Three − deleted, a two-hour + added | Halve both sides — one small subtraction, one tiny restoration. A swap you keep beats a plan you abandon. |