Imagine a world where your life coach is a machine. No, not some human-shaped robot, I’m talking about an AI chatbot. And surprisingly, it’s not as dystopian as you might think.
Take ChatGPT and Bard, for instance. These two have shown a surprising aptitude at helping us mere mortals organize our lives and set meaningful goals. So, what say we do a deep dive into how these chatbots can help you craft an action plan and form new habits? You might even find them nudging you to plug your goals into your calendar or to-do list.
Setting the Stage
First things first, you need a goal. Maybe you’ve just finished reading “Slow AF Run Club: The Ultimate Guide for Anyone Who Wants to Run” and you’re ready to hit the pavement. That’s a good place to start.
Then, you select your chatbot. In our case, we’re going with Open AI’s ChatGPT and its handy web browsing feature. Here’s a prompt that I’ve adapted from PromptHero, a collection of tried-and-true ChatGPT prompts:
ChatGPT, I want you to act as a life coach. I will provide details about my current situation and goals. Your job will be to strategize and help me make better decisions to reach those objectives. This could involve advice on various topics, such as creating plans for achieving success or dealing with difficult emotions. My first request is: My goal this fall is to run a marathon. Come up with a three-month plan using the principles of the book “Slow AF Run Club.”
Let the Machine Do the Work
Now, ChatGPT will work its magic. It’ll break down the book’s premise – that any person, regardless of their body size or fitness level, can train to become a runner. Then, it’ll craft a workout plan based on principles from the book.
Maybe on Month 1, it’ll suggest starting with four 30-minute walks a week. By Month 2, you’ll start to jog a little. And by Month 3, you’ll be focusing on jogging for 45 minutes at a time.
Integrating AI Into Your Routine
The next step is making these suggestions part of your routine. Sure, you could manually add these workouts to your calendar, but why would you when you can automate it? Enter Zapier, a plugin automation tool that connects ChatGPT with your Google Calendar, and voila! Your workouts are automatically added to your calendar.
However, there’s a catch – only subscribers who pay $20 a month for ChatGPT Plus can use plugins.
Once you’ve linked Zapier with ChatGPT, navigate to the Zapier’s Open AI actions menu and select “add a new action.” Type “Google Calendar: Quick add event”, connect your Google calendar account, and enable the action.
Return to ChatGPT, re-enter your life coach prompt, and once the bot has finished outlining the workout plan, type “add each workout to my calendar.” The bot will then integrate the workout plan into your calendar according to the guidelines.
Making Life Easier With AI
Now, if you’re more of a to-do list type of person, you’re in luck. Tell your AI life coach that you’re going to share your to-do list regularly and ask it to add these workouts to your to-do list according to the schedule.
As a test run, I told my life coach about my tasks for the week, including getting the car tires rotated, contacting the health insurance company, writing copy for the newsletter, buying broccoli, and scheduling phone calls. The chatbot expertly spread these tasks over the course of a week, adding in the 30-minute walks.
Give it a whirl with any of your life goals — from saving money to buy a house, to setting yourself up for a promotion at work. A little automation can turn nebulous advice into an actionable plan.
In the end, I asked for a running plan and admitted that I was out of shape post-pandemic. The chatbot was quick to remind me that the goal was to run a marathon, not to lose weight. The aim was to find joy in running and to remove any shame associated with it. It even recommended that I join a community of runners, either in real life or in online spaces like Reddit or Strava. Sound advice, don’t you think?
Source:NY Times On Tech
