Open loops are the commitments, follow-ups, decisions, and promises that stay in your head because no system is reliably holding them for you.

The goal is to keep the work that needs your judgment, voice, or relationships while getting the tracking and remembering out of your head.

1. Ask AI to find the loops

Using the sources that are appropriate for your workflow, ask AI to inspect for:

• commitments you made
• things someone promised to send you
• unanswered questions
• follow-ups without a clear next step
• deadlines mentioned in messages or meetings
• projects that appear stalled
• tasks that have no owner or date

A useful instruction:

Review the relevant sources and find open loops. For each one, tell me: what is still open, who owns the next move, when it appears to be due, the evidence you used, and the recommended next action. Do not invent deadlines or commitments that are not in the source material.

2. Separate “mine” from “theirs”

This distinction is surprisingly useful.

Create two buckets:

• I owe — something requires an action or decision from you.
• They owe — you are waiting on someone else.

Anything with no clear owner should be flagged separately instead of silently assigned to you.

3. Put the result where work already lives