The chances are, you’re procrastinating right now.
Don’t worry, it’s normal. I watched two YouTube videos before writing this article. I procrastinated writing an article about procrastination.
Fighting the urge to procrastinate is a constant battle, but I think I’ve just found a solution. It’s the way I managed to get this article finished quickly without distraction.
It’s a ChatGPT prompt that turns an overwhelming (and quite frankly, boring) to-do list into an exciting video game that gives you constant hits of dopamine.
In this article, I’ll share the ChatGPT prompt with you. I’ll also explain why it’s so effective. This is one of the most valuable prompts I’ve created… my productivity has gone through the roof since I started using it.
If you want to skip straight to the juicy prompt, you can find it at the bottom of the article.
Why do we procrastinate?
You don’t procrastinate because you’re lazy. The most likely reason that you procrastinate is because you’re overwhelmed.
Dr. Fuschia Sirois, professor of psychology at the University of Sheffield, suggests that “people engage in this irrational cycle of chronic procrastination because of an inability to manage negative moods around a task.”
When we think about our projects, we think about all the things we need to do all at once. It makes our tasks seem insurmountable and paralyzes us into inaction.
So we spend 20 minutes making a coffee.
So, what is the solution?
To figure out how we can beat procrastination, it helps to consider when we don’t procrastinate.
During which activities do you achieve a state of flow and don’t think about anything than the task at hand?
For me, and for many of my friends and colleagues, it’s playing video games. When was the last time you paused a video game to tidy your room?
Video games give you a sense of achievement (and a hit of dopamine) every time you complete a level.
What if we could turn our to-do lists into video games and achieve the same state of flow we experience when playing Call of Duty?
ChatGPT prompt to turn your projects into video games
At the moment, your to-do lists and projects are just poorly designed video games. To avoid procrastination, you have to design your projects in a way that keeps you engaged. We’re going to use ChatGPT to do that by turning your projects into video games.
I want you to help me beat procrastination by turning projects into video games.
I procrastinate because I am in a constant state of frustration and overwhelm. There are no immediate rewards. And the only reward comes once you complete the whole game. This is terrible video game design.
I want to turn my project into an addictive video game. Create 10 levels to the video game.
My project is: [DESCRIBE PROJECT/GOAL]
Here are my thoughts, ideas, and tasks associated with this project. It includes some of the things I think will need to be done to achieve my goal:
- [THOUGHT 1]
- [THOUGHT 2]
- [THOUGHT 3]
.... [include as many thoughts as you want]
Here is an example (that starts with [EXAMPLE START] and ends with [EXAMPLE END]).
[EXAMPLE START]
Project: Build a website
Level 1 - Dump thoughts down
Level 2 - Design 10 more video game levels
Level 3 - Search YouTube "How to build a website"
Level 4 - Watch first 5 videos and take notes
Level 5 - Collate the best advice from notes
Level 6 - Message 3 friends that have done this to feedback my idea
Level 7 - Draw up sketch of website
Level 8 - Pick pre-built software
Level 9 - Create homepage
Level 10 - Send friends the homepage
[EXAMPLE END]
How to use this prompt (with examples)
The idea is to fill in each of the sections in square brackets [LIKE THIS] with information about you and your project.
First, add details about your project to the prompt. Then, do a huge brain dump of thoughts and ideas of things you already know you need to do, what you might need to do, and what you want to achieve.
Example 1: Writing this article
Here’s how I used the prompt to complete this article.
Example 2: Creating a viral Instagram video
Here’s another example to show you how you can use this prompt…
At WGMI Media, we have an Instagram page that shares news, images and videos about tech tools (and how to use them). Creating a video that has potential to go viral is a tall order, and this ChatGPT prompt helps break it down into manageable levels.
I want to learn more about ChatGPT and AI
As people increasingly incorporate ChatGPT into their lives, it becomes more and more important that we learn how to use these tools to stay competitive in life and business.
To stay up to date with the latest AI tools, and how you can use them to become richer and more productive, make sure you subscribe to WGMI’s weekly newsletter.
