The Question That Opened a Door
AI is built to recognize patterns, so it makes sense that it’s great at understanding systems, frameworks, and processes. These formal structures give it clear rules to work with. When you feed it your life context, it can offer some surprisingly tailored advice.
Again, there is probably some concern with copyright issues. I’ll try not to give away anything proprietary in this post, but it is really hard to know what would be easily known and what might be proprietary to a creator. Definitely support what you love, including any creator who provides you value in your life.
I’ve told ChatGPT about my life – fitness, caregiving, blogging, deep work, burnout cycles. It remembers pretty well whatever we’ve talked about. While most of our conversations have focused on specific areas, it still knows me on paper surprisingly well.
So I decided to ask it
“Are there any frameworks or processes I should use that I may not be aware of for my day-to-day life that you may recommend?”
That’s it. That’s the main value in this article. I’ll go through some of the rest of the examples so you can see what it suggests for me if you’re interested but I think you should also try this and see what it recommends.
And instead of vague productivity tips, it returned something far more valuable: five lesser-known but wildly effective frameworks tailored to my real, messy life.
Here’s what I learned—and why it may change how I move through the day. I’ll give a few of these a genuine shot.
1. PARA Method – Decluttering My Digital Chaos
The PARA Method (Projects, Areas, Resources, Archives) by Tiago Forte was the first suggestion.
Here is what it roughly means
- Projects are what I’m actively working on—writing this blog post, for instance.
- Areas are ongoing roles I hold: caregiver, blogger, dog dad.
- Resources are the books, ideas, screenshots, AI chats I never revisit but swear I’ll use.
- Archives are where everything else goes to rest in peace.
To get help applying this method, I took a screenshot and explained my current system. I followed up the initial response with the following prompt:
“Let’s discuss PARA a bit more – currently I use OneNote with the following sections, though I only loosely stick to them – I heavily lean on the search function to keep me on track (with the image below)”
So, with this personal context, it quickly matches my folders with the PARA Framework with suggestions on how to improve my organization. It suggests things like rename/tag with PARA codes, creating a PARA Index page which it offers to create for me and a weekly PARA review structure. Before AI I would have to research enough to know this system exists, buy the book or research heavily, and apply it. All in, ChatGPT helped me do this in about 15 minutes.
2. Energy Management > Time Management
Purpose: Optimize when you do your most important work.
How it works:
- Track your energy peaks and dips across the day.
- Align creative, strategic, or physical tasks with your natural highs.
- Use lows for autopilot tasks (email, cleaning, light editing).
I think this suggestion is something we all do naturally, but it would probably be better to more thoughtfully align your tasks with your natural energy levels throughout the day. I do this already generally if I am able, but meetings throughout the day usually override most of the planning I would have from days prior. Lately, I’ve found I’m able to work out at lunchtime and that with shorter workouts (45 min vs 1.5 hrs last year) I still feel great and have energy after work. It frees me up to do things at 5pm-7pm instead of working out. That time is really valuable to still do things while many businesses are open.
3. Tiny Gains / Atomic Habits Loop
Purpose: Build systems, not just motivation.
How it works:
- Cue → Craving → Response → Reward
- Use “habit stacking”: After I [current habit], I will [new habit].
- Focus on identity-based habits: “I am the kind of person who…”
Why it’s for you: Helps you reframe things like workouts, writing, or even dog walks into identity-reinforcing wins instead of willpower drains.
I’ve heard a lot about this book, but I haven’t bought it or studied any of the (probably massive) content online.
In another 2 minutes, I had concrete, working examples. Thanks Coach!
Absolutely. Let’s build out a full working example of that framework using something from your real life — let’s go with writing blog content since it’s a goal that requires consistency and systems, not just motivation.
🧠 Framework in Action: Blog Writing Habit (using Atomic Habits principles)
🔁 Habit Loop Breakdown
- Cue: Open your laptop after finishing your morning espresso.
- Craving: Feel a desire to make progress and share something useful online.
- Response: Write just one paragraph of a blog post draft.
- Reward: Check it off in your daily tracker and enjoy the mental win + dopamine bump.
🔗 Habit Stacking
“After I finish my espresso and open my laptop, I will write one paragraph of my blog.”
You’re not promising to write a full post—just one paragraph. That lowers resistance and builds the habit loop. The consistency will build momentum.
🧠 Identity-Based Framing
“I’m the kind of person who shows up to write every day, even when it’s just a paragraph.”
or
“I’m a builder. My ideas don’t sit in drafts—they ship.”
This reinforces your identity as a consistent creator, which becomes more powerful than relying on fleeting motivation.
The idea of a self-driven identity is really interesting—how it can empower you to shape your behavior around who you believe you are. For a lot of people, I think this role is filled by a God figure in their head quietly directing them to act in an ethical and kind way (or however their religion dictates). For me, this year – 2025 – my New Year’s resolution was to stop thinking and start doing. I said to myself
This is the year of doing.
That identity helped me launch this blog, publish my first coloring book, and dive into other fitness-related projects. I should probably write a separate article just about this because this motivation and identity came from AI. I asked ChatGPT to rate my strengths and weaknesses. It listed not taking action on my ideas as a weakness. I knew that to be true, but to hear it from an external observer made me motivated to take action. So, it’s a focus this year.
4. The Eisenhower Matrix (But With a Twist)
Purpose: Prioritize what matters today without losing sight of long-term goals.
How it works:
- Quadrants: Urgent/Important, Not Urgent/Important, Urgent/Not Important, Not Urgent/Not Important
- Twist: Give yourself a limit—e.g., only 1 urgent+important task per day to preserve energy.
Why it’s for you: Especially good for those who feel “productive” but not necessarily “progressing.”
My thought on this one – I’m not sold that I want to use this all the time for me, personally. I like this idea and framework and use it sometimes at work. It just doesn’t resonate with me for something I can fully commit to doing day in and day out. I’m glad it works great for people to prioritize their tasks, it makes a lot of sense. I wish I were a robot that I could just program myself to prioritize tasks like this. Obviously I’m not – I have a lot of weird shit that goes on in my head that gets in the way of performing optimally all the time.
What interested me more was comparing it to a familiar saying I hear and sometimes use to motivate myself which is to “Eat the Frog” – aka, do the thing you dread the most, first. That win should propel you through your day. Here is that comparison if you are interested:
🟦 Eisenhower Matrix = Prioritization System
It helps you categorize tasks into 4 quadrants based on urgency and importance:
- Urgent + Important → Do first (crisis, deadline)
- Not Urgent + Important → Schedule (long-term goals, deep work)
- Urgent + Not Important → Delegate (interruptions, quick replies)
- Not Urgent + Not Important → Delete (distractions, scrolling)
🟩 Eat That Frog = Execution Philosophy
It tells you:
“Tackle your hardest, most important task first thing in the day before procrastination kicks in.”
Usually, the “frog” is a Quadrant 2 task from the Eisenhower Matrix: important, but not urgent (like writing a blog, planning finances, or working out).
🧠 How They Fit Together:
- Use the Eisenhower Matrix to identify the frog (what matters).
- Use Eat That Frog to slay it early (when to do it).
🎯 Example:
- Eisenhower Matrix says your AI blog is important but not urgent → Schedule it.
- Eat That Frog says: Cool, make that blog your first task tomorrow morning.
5. CAP Framework (Creativity, Admin, Physical)
Purpose: Balance your day based on activity type.
How it works:
- Do 1 thing per category per day:
- Creativity = blog writing, idea generation, coloring books
- Admin = email, budgeting, AI organization
- Physical = gym, hiking, disc golf
Why it’s for you: Keeps you from feeling like you’ve wasted a day, even if it wasn’t perfect. Reinforces balance and variety.
I like this idea – it’s about balance and that seems healthy. I wouldn’t consider myself to be strong at moderation. When I find something I like, I GO for it. I buy all the home gym equipment. I learn everything there is to know about disc golf and buy 100 discs. I obsessively learn about AI. This is an important framework for me personally to consider and I appreciate that ChatGPT has recognized that I could benefit from structuring balance into my routine. This concept is just a bit too vague to help motivate me to do anything.
Of course, I tried giving ChatGPT the above paragraph feedback and like any good coach it has a solution. So, my excuse to ignore this one for now is that I can’t implement five new things at once.
FYI – here are some of its suggestions in response to my feedback above – in case anyone reading this feels this framework may resonate with them.
So – learn. Iterate. Teach ChatGPT to coach you. Make projects if you are a plus user and keep ideas on track and organized. Give it personalized reference material. Give it your honest concerns and feedback. Tell it when it’s not for you. It has a lot of ideas. It’s a ridiculously good coach. The access to the material and knowledge of how to implement is no longer the roadblock stopping me, or you, from benefitting from so many helpful frameworks. Go out there and get after it.