I’ve written before about how the Tasks feature for ChatGPT has really given me a better way to manage my life in terms of to-do lists and general organization. It really has fulfilled the role of the kind of digital personal assistant I’ve imagined from various science fiction stories, and turned my thoughts of “oh, I’ll remember that” from well-intentioned lies into reality.
I wanted to highlight some of the ways Tasks has given me more control over my life, plus, if you want to try it for yourself, a couple of example prompts you can borrow and adapt.
While you’ll need to subscribe to ChatGPT Plus or higher to get to use Tasks for now, that won’t be true forever judging from OpenAI‘s usual tactics of widening access after some initial test months.
Goldfish brain
Have you ever walked into a room and immediately forgot why you’re there? I do it more often than I’d like. The same goes for seeing important emails, and, for no reason, deciding to do something else before answering them. My brain is like an overzealous browser with 43 tabs open, and unfortunately, none of them are labeled.
ChatGPT Tasks has become my external hard drive for remembering literally anything important. No more writing reminders on my hand (which inevitably get smudged into illegibility) or relying on my memory for fine details.
For example, trash day. It’s not that I don’t want to take the trash out, but sometimes it’s 3 a.m. and I bolt out of bed to put it by the curb before the trucks arrive. Now I have ChatGPT Tasks set up to remind me every Monday and Thursday night, plus recycling on Wednesday night. It pings me, I take out the trash, and I get to pretend I’m a responsible adult for another week.
Try it yourself with a prompt like: “ChatGPT, remind me to take out the trash every Monday and Thursday night at 9 p.m.”
Productive chaos
My current workload as a freelancer, parent of a one-year-old, and supposed adult is more chaotic than at any time in my life. That means relying on memory and random scraps of paper with my scribbling isn’t good enough. ChatGPT Tasks serves as more than just a calendar in that regard.
I can use it to remind me of things that don’t necessarily have a specific time each day or week but have to be done semi-regularly. So, for instance, I have it check in to see if I’ve remembered to call some family members at least once a week, and to message my editors every morning by 10 a.m., but to start my brainstorming earlier.
So my prompt ends up as , “Hey ChatGPT, can you ping me every weekday morning at 8 a.m. to start brainstorming story ideas and to check-in with my editor by 10 a.m.?”
Big picture
I truly love writing of all kinds, but when I’m not writing for a specific role, the rest of life seems to eat up any time I might set aside to work on a novel, short stories, or screenplay. I wanted to make sure I fit in time for these things this year and using Tasks has helped me keep an eye on those long-term projects instead of getting caught in the weeds of daily life all the time.
Instead of letting my ambitions slowly collect dust, I set up recurring reminders to keep me accountable. Now, I’ve set aside time for my own projects and separated it from other chores and jobs. And I can regularly update the reminder if I want to point out what specific bit of writing I was looking forward to and when that time is up I can write something for ChatGPT to tell me to jumpstart the next time. It’s a small thing, but that little bit of consistency makes all the difference.
Stay hydrated
Hydration is one of those small things that can actually make a big difference in your life. I would love to be the kind of person who naturally drinks a bunch of water before my coffee, not to mention stretches, meditates, and otherwise does all the things that I’m told can help keep me healthy and happy. I am not that person, but with a creative ChatGPT Tasks prompt or two, I can fake it pretty well.
I now have a thrice daily reminder to drink water, but rather than just an alarm going off, I wrote, “Hey ChatGPT, can you set a reminder for me to drink water three times a day between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. and use a joke to help motivate me?” My most recent reminder said, “Hey Eric, your body called—it’s not a cactus. 🌵 Maybe drink some water before you dry up like a thrift store sponge?” The same goes for a daily reminder to get up and stretch, so I don’t come away every evening hunched over like a witch from a fairy tale.
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erichs211@gmail.com (Eric Hal Schwartz)
