The protocols that hold up are the ones a person has actually run for long enough to know what’s load-bearing and what was decoration. If you’ve been doing it for two weeks because you read a thread, that’s a draft of an opinion, not a protocol.
If you’re not sure yet, that’s a useful answer. Save a few favorites, run them, and come back when one of them has been sharpened into something you’d defend over coffee.
“Wait until you can tell someone the exact thing that surprised you. If you can't, it's not ready.”
A contributor
Protocols read as field notes from one person to another. Use “I tried X for Y weeks and Z happened.” Say what you actually noticed, in plain words, with the rough edges left in.
If a piece of the routine comes from something you read but never ran, cite it as background reading, but don’t list it as an explicit step. The reader trusts you for what you’ve done. Flag the rest honestly.
“I cut every 'should' from my draft and it got 40% shorter. None of the cuts mattered.”
A contributor
Each step is a single discrete action a reader can repeat tomorrow morning. “Magnesium glycinate, 200–400 mg” is a step. “Optimize your evening routine” is not. Order the steps the way you actually do them. If you do something at the same time every day, that timing belongs in the step’s timing field, not the body.
The body of the step holds the action and any small how-to detail. Notes hold the “why,” the warning, or the variation you tried. Sources cite the specific claim you’re making, not the step itself, not the category.
“'Magnesium glycinate, 200–400 mg' is a step. 'Optimize your evening routine' is a TODO.”
A contributor
When you’re making a factual claim (a dose, a mechanism, a benefit), link the source you’re leaning on. A well-known book, a meta-analysis, a trusted database. If the source is “a thread I read,” either run down the underlying paper or reframe the claim as your own experience.
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“If your source is 'a thread I read,' either find the underlying paper or drop the claim. Both are fine. Pretending isn't.”
A contributor
A field note is the one-sentence aside you add to a step from your own lived experience: “I tried 2700K bulbs for two weeks; falling asleep moved earlier by ~22 minutes.” Use them sparingly, only on steps where you have something specific to say. They live next to your name.
Everything else (corrections, suggestions, variations from other readers) flows through community notes in the margins. Additive, attributable, and visible to whoever runs the protocol after you.
“I save the field note for the one thing I'd want someone running this to know in week three, not week one.”
A contributor
When you submit, the protocol goes through an automated check against the community guidelines (spam, AI filler, dangerous advice, missing disclosures). Most submissions clear that check and publish right away. Anything flagged goes to a human-review queue, usually resolved within a day. We don’t verify the science or vouch for the outcome. That’s on you, and on the readers who run it.
Edits ship as new versions, so the revision history is preserved. Community notes accumulate in the margins. If someone catches a real error, edit the protocol, and consider thanking them in a field note.
“Someone left a correction in the margins three months in. I edited the protocol that night. That moment is the whole point.”
A contributor
Start a draft. You can save and come back whenever.
Start writing yours