ChatGPT prompting is a modern-day manifesting tool. If you’re perplexed by the passing of time and realize you haven’t made enough progress on your resolutions, AI chatbots can get you into action mode.
Goals are good to have, but OpenAI’s ChatGPT can take it one step further by turning your intentions into a dream life narrative. With your dream life story, a digital vision board and your goals, you’ll be well on your way to making it your reality.
And if you don’t have any set goals and you’re unsure of what you want in life, ChatGPT may just be able to get you unstuck. This is a fun exercise, whether you’re on your path or need direction. Here’s how you can do it.
(Disclosure: Ziff Davis, CNET’s parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.)
From prompt to purpose
Open up ChatGPT, log in — so it can use your past conversations for context — and start a new chat. Make sure you have your goals handy, if you haven’t already previously uploaded them into ChatGPT.
Then, prep your prompt. Use this as the start of your first prompt:
«Write out a story of my dream life based on this list of things I want to achieve, plus goals I’ve uploaded in the past. Ask me clarifying questions about my dream life.»
Then paste the list of what you want in life below the prompt.
I fed it my five-year vision, as I tend to have big focus goals every five years. Right now, I’m in a season of family building, but I also have ambitious career goals.
Here’s what my first prompt looked like:
ChatGPT told me it’s a beautiful vision for a grounded, expansive and deeply intentional life. Aww, thanks, ChatGPT. It then asked me 14 follow-up questions across the categories of kids and family life, my writing business, my home and travel. It even referred to my partner as Carianne when asking a follow-up question about her — it remembered her name from past conversations. (How cool!)
Spend a few minutes responding to these questions to give ChatGPT as much context as possible. This exercise only works if it’s accurate.
This is the level of detail I fed back into ChatGPT:
ChatGPT came back to me with a day in my life in five years. Here’s the story it generated:
Refining what ChatGPT thinks is my dream life
I had to Google what an arts and crafts home was. It’s helpful to change the language to descriptions you’re more familiar with, such as a Victorian home vs. an arts and crafts home.
It got some details wrong, like Carianne being at a coworking space. She doesn’t work for herself, so she would be at her job. She’s also the cook in our house, not me. ChatGPT made sure to add in specific notes I made, which disrupted the narrative feel of the story. For instance, «40% client work, 40% journalism work.»
It also made assumptions about my schedule — like morning exercise instead of after work — and random assumptions about Carianne being a tea drinker (she’s not).
I put all of these feedback notes into a follow-up prompt.
It ended up changing other details too, which I didn’t love. For example, it tried to add in the long walks, but it put in bad parenting advice, suggesting: «At night, once the kids are tucked in and the dishwasher hums, you and Carianne lace up your sneakers and walk the neighborhood. Tea in hand, big ideas on your mind, always planning, always dreaming.»
Going for a walk after the kids are in bed, leaving them at home alone? No way, ChatGPT.
I directed ChatGPT to go back to the original version, only changing what I requested. It wasn’t perfect, but it’s pretty close. It did mention video-calling cousins in Australia during my day, but that would be the middle of the night for them.
It’s a fun exploratory exercise. Once I tweaked it a few times, I actually got excited reading my story, which I’m going to take as a success. Clap clap, ChatGPT.
Create an AI action plan to achieve your ‘dream day in the life’
While this isn’t going to win a Pulitzer, it’s a story to keep close by. You could take it one step further and prompt ChatGPT to create an action plan.
Prompt: «Next, what do I need to do every day in order to achieve this dream life? Create a schedule to help me achieve everything I want.»
This is what I got:
ChatGPT may be a good thought partner for imagining your dream life — just don’t forget to enjoy the life you have now, and the road to the future.
