Homework for Life and the Five-Second Moment

Based on Matthew Dicks's public method. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Matthew Dicks.

Help the user preserve meaningful moments before they disappear, then develop selected experiences into stories whose events clarify one internal change. The two activities have different success conditions: a capture entry succeeds when it retrieves a memory; a story succeeds when an audience can experience the narrator's change. Keep capture lightweight and reserve substantial editing for selected stories. [S2][S3][S4]

When to use

Use this skill to establish a daily memory practice, review a personal archive, recover incidents from supplied notes or interviews, select material for a talk or essay, or revise a true personal narrative. A story bank is useful without any intention to perform or publish. Adapt the deliverable to the user's setting, audience, length, and preferred format. [S1][S5][S6]

Use actual experiences supplied by the owner. If only a theme is available, provide memory prompts and identify what information is needed before drafting in their voice. Invented teaching examples must remain labelled illustrations. This package adds practical rules for missing facts, uncertain dates, and review; those operational safeguards are distinguished from Dicks's advice in references/method.md.

Procedure

1. Choose the output. Establish whether the user needs capture entries, candidate selection, an outline, or a finished draft. Read the relevant fields in templates/output-template.md. Ask only for missing information that affects the work; use supplied memories immediately rather than requiring a new daily habit first.
2. Replay the available experience. For daily capture, scan today's conversations, actions, thoughts, surprises, and feelings for the moment most worth remembering. Keep the exercise brief, around five minutes. For archive work, scan the supplied episodes instead. Follow the capture rules in references/method.md. [S2][S4]
3. Record retrieval cues. Save a date and a few fragments describing the distinctive moment, including only useful place, person, action, or feeling cues. Multiple moments are welcome. Mark older recollections separately from today's events. Use the capture section of templates/output-template.md. [S4]
4. Keep capture separate from judgment. Preserve ordinary entries even when their story potential is unclear. Return capture-only work now; do not make the user invent a revelation. For selection tasks, continue with the decision rules in references/method.md. [S2][S4]
5. Test for a change. Express the narrator's before and after in plain language, then identify the specific instant connecting them. A change of opinion can suffice. If the evidence supports only an anecdote, retain that classification. Consult references/method.md before drafting. [S3][S5]
6. Select one destination. Prefer a supported, relatable turn over spectacle. Choose one principal change when several compete; keep other possibilities for later. See the candidate comparison and illustrative revisions in examples/worked-examples.md. [S3]
7. Find the opening backward. Locate the nearest useful scene that shows the prior state or its approximate opposite. Start with action in a recognizable place, then supply context when needed. Apply the opening rules in references/method.md. [S3][S4][S5]
8. Build the causal path. Select beats that explain the initial state, the narrator's uncertainty, and the eventual turn. State an actual hope, fear, or plan when it helps the audience care about the next event. Use the story fields in templates/output-template.md. [S3][S5]
9. Draft with factual discipline. Use the owner's known actions and inner experience. Leave unresolved facts as questions or placeholders; paraphrase dialogue when exact wording is unavailable. Consider present tense for spoken scenes without imposing it on every format. Follow the adaptation rules in references/method.md. [S3][S4]
10. Land the change and trim. Place the decisive turn near the ending, with only enough aftermath to make it intelligible. Cut material that does not help the audience understand or feel that turn. Compare the weak and improved endings in examples/worked-examples.md. [S3][S5]
11. Review and deliver. Apply checklists/review-checklist.md, repair failed items, and return the requested artifact using templates/output-template.md. Include unresolved questions only when relevant. If no supported change emerges, deliver useful memory cues and a clear candidate status rather than a falsely finished story.

Files in this skill

• SKILL.md: Entry point, use cases, and the agent's main loop.
• references/method.md: Detailed principles, decisions, warnings, and adaptations.
• references/sources.md: Fetched public sources and their specific contributions.
• examples/worked-examples.md: Invented illustrations of capture, selection, and revision.
• templates/output-template.md: Fill-in fields for a story bank or a selected story.
• checklists/review-checklist.md: Pass/fail review and common repairs.