What does it mean that the automation assessment?

Evaluate each important behavior — is it automated partially automated or manual.

Example: A software engineer believes her morning routine is fully automated — she has done it every day for two years. But when she conducts the automation assessment, the picture fractures. Brushing her teeth scores fully automated: it happens without a reminder, without willpower, and would happen on her worst day. Her post-breakfast meditation scores partially automated: it happens most days but requires her to notice the cue (finishing breakfast), consciously decide to sit rather than check email, and apply mild effort to begin. On bad days she skips it. Her evening code review for her side project scores manual: she must remind herself, negotiate past the pull of Netflix, and apply significant willpower every single time. Two years of repetition made these behaviors feel equally established. The assessment reveals they occupy three different points on the automation spectrum, each requiring a fundamentally different intervention to advance.

Try this: List every behavior you consider a habit or routine — everything you do regularly that contributes to your goals. For each behavior, answer four diagnostic questions honestly: (1) Does this happen without any external reminder or cue? (2) Does this happen without any willpower or conscious effort? (3) Would this still happen on your worst day — exhausted, stressed, emotionally depleted? (4) Could you execute this behavior effectively while distracted or mentally occupied with something else? Score each question yes or no. Four yeses means fully automated. Two or three yeses means partially automated. One or zero yeses means manual. Record the results in a three-column table — fully automated, partially automated, manual — and calculate what percentage of your important behaviors fall into each column. Most people discover that fewer than twenty percent of the behaviors they consider habits are actually fully automated.