Fit the Day's Tasks Into the Energy You Actually Have — Free
A to-do list assumes an unlimited day. For anyone with a fatigue-limiting condition, a chronic illness, or an attention that runs out at 2pm, the list is not the problem — the arithmetic is. This ladder takes your minutes and your tasks and scales every block proportionally, so nothing is quietly dropped off the end and the total always equals the time you have.
The proof surface
Free path: the ladder computes locally in the browser with no key and no account. Where an AI step helps, any free chat assistant works — Google AI Studio's free tier and Groq's free tier were both no-card and rate-limited when this page was reviewed on 2026-09-13 (limits change; check before you rely on them).
Why the flat version breaks
A checklist cannot tell you that 135 minutes of tasks will not fit into a 90-minute day, so the day ends with the last two items undone and the guilt attached to them. Scaling every block to the budget you enter turns an impossible list into a possible one, and shows which tasks were trimmed and by how much.
How to use the paced day ladder in four passes
Every plan fails on the estimate, not the intention. If reading a two-page notice takes 25 minutes when you are tired, write 25 — the ladder can only scale what you tell it.
A rest that is not on the list is the first thing sacrificed. Give it a row and a number so the ladder protects it when everything else is scaled down.
Under-estimate by a fifth. If you have 110 minutes of capacity, plan for 90 and let the surplus be a good surprise rather than a shortfall you have to explain to yourself.
How you feel at 11am is better information than how you felt at 9am. Change the budget and re-run — a plan you revise twice is a plan you finish once.
SAMPLE DATA, NOT A VERIFIED CLAIM: Tuesday, post-appointment · 135 minutes of tasks against a 90-minute budget · two rests protected at 15 minutes each · phone call after 11am. Replace these values with your own source before you rely on anything.
What breaks first
Adding tasks until the ladder trims them
The scaling is a warning, not a feature. If your 135 minutes get trimmed to 90 every day, the list is wrong, not the day.
Leaving out the things that need a person
A phone call at a fixed time, a school run, a delivery window — those do not scale. Give them their real minutes and put the flexible work around them.
Treating a scaled plan as a commitment
The ladder makes a possible day, not a promised one. If the first block costs more than it should, the rest of the plan is information you can ignore without failing.
What you pay otherwise
| The usual route | What it leaves out | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| A productivity app built for unlimited days | Streaks, points and a red overdue badge on a day you were ill | a subscription plus the guilt |
| A paper list with no minutes on it | Nothing adds up, so nothing gets finished, so the list grows | an evening of rearranging |
| An occupational health plan written once a year | Sensible in March, unusable in the week you actually need it | a review meeting to change it |
| This page + the free paced day ladder | Computed in your tab, result on screen before you type anything | $0 |
Try the free paced day ladder
Seven tasks totalling 135 minutes are already set against a 90-minute day, so every block is scaled and the trimming percentage is printed in the header. Change the budget to 135 and the scaling disappears.
Open the free paced day ladder →Keep the work if you will use it again
Every block, the scaling, the start offsets and the trimming percentage, plus copy and share-link, with no account.
The on-screen result is free and repeatable forever. The one-time tier adds a tangible file you keep and the saved history that comes with it; it never removes or degrades the free result.
Boundary: This plans the minutes you enter; it is not medical or occupational-health advice, it cannot know your capacity today, and it does not replace a workplace adjustment agreed with your employer. If a task involves a health decision, take it to the person who made it.