Free tool
Is my cup full?
A 5-minute Change Cup check-in
You can't pour more water into a cup that's already full. Change works the same way: when your cup is full, one more change spills over into stress, mistakes, and lost focus. Use this check-in when a new change lands, or once a week during a busy stretch.
For you, during any change
Is my cup full?
A 5-minute Change Cup check-in
- What's in my cup right now? My work, my life, and every change. Count the change as real work.
- How much room is the worry taking? Sort what I know from what I assume.
- Do I see any early signs? Less done on long days, snapping at people, skipping paperwork, pulling back, feeling worn out.
- What's my trade? One thing to stop, pause, shrink, or hand off. Bring it to my manager.
- What is my one off-hours boundary? One I can keep, that the people around me know about.
- What question would swap a guess for a fact? Ask it this week.
AdoptionLab.AI
The people side of quality improvement
adoptionlab.ai/change-cup
How to use it
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Name the dip early
Give your team simple words for it, like "My capacity is strained this week." A small dip flagged early beats a crisis later.
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Bring a trade, not just a problem
Managers can say yes to "pause the monthly report for six weeks" much more easily than to "I have too much going on."
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Keep the boundary for two weeks
Say it out loud, then hold it. Rest is part of the work, not a reward for finishing it.
Why it matters
Cups rarely overflow all at once. The level creeps up, and the early signs are easy to miss when everyone around you is busy too. A worn-out worker is a warning about the work setting, not a verdict on the person.
Go deeper, free
Managing Your Own Change Journey is a free, self-paced course, roughly 35 minutes, no sign-in. See what fills your Change Cup, spot the early signs, offer your manager a trade, protect your time off, and build your own one-page Change Cup plan.
Start the free courseMore free tools
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- Where is each person? A quick read on where each person is in a change, and what helps.
- People-side starter Five questions to start the people side of any QI project.
- Leading Through AI Five things leaders need to know about AI, and a first step for each.
Running a quality improvement project?
We help QI teams with the people side of change. See how it works, or set up a 30-minute call.