May 20, 2025 • 20 mins
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I spent months avoiding a big project, not because I wasn’t excited about it, but because I kept falling into a sneaky productivity trap: procrastiworking.
In this episode, I’m getting real about how I let a major project sit on the back burner for way too long, even though I genuinely wanted to get it done. Instead of tackling it, I kept choosing “easier” tasks that felt productive but weren’t actually moving the needle. Sound familiar?
I’m sharing what finally snapped me out of that cycle, how an unexpected conversation with ChatGPT gave me the clarity I didn’t even know I needed, and the surprisingly simple shift I made in my daily schedule that’s now helping me get more done with way less stress.
If you’ve been curious about using AI for weekly planning, I’ll show you how I spend just 15 minutes each week mapping out my time using a mix of AI tools and Notion. This approach helps me protect my best brain hours and actually finish the things that matter most.
Want to see my exact Notion dashboard that I mention in this episode? DM me on Instagram @kristendoyle.co and I’ll send it your way!
02:12 - A story of how procrastination led me to a life-changing “talk” with ChatGPT
05:05 - The realization that I needed to organize my day around my most productive work hours
08:25 - How I use AI to plan out an entire week that fits my custom schedule (and the results I’ve seen)
15:23 - What to do before trying AI for weekly planning in your business
Links & Resources:
- Follow me on Instagram @kristendoyle.co
- Episode 121, How to Run Your Business on Limited Time
- Episode 128, Success Your Way: A Different Approach to 2025 Planning
- Check out my Everything Page: a one-stop shop for savvy selling!
- The Savvy Seller Collective
- Join my private Facebook community: Savvy Teacher Sellers
- More resources for growing your TPT business
- Rate & review The Savvy Teacher Seller on Apple Podcasts
Show Notes: https://kristendoyle.co/episode148
Feeling overwhelmed by all the things you think you need to do to grow your digital product business? Take the Savvy Seller Quiz and find out exactly what to focus on right now to actually move your business forward.
➡️ Take the quiz at savvyquiz.com
Check out my Everything Page at https://kristendoyle.co/everything
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Kristen (00:00):
Have you ever had those big, important projects you know
(00:03):
you need to do that just keepgetting pushed to the back
burner for weeks or even months?
It happens to me a whole lotmore than I would like to admit.
In fact, I just recentlyrealized that a project I had
started in December was stillsitting, barely even touched,
not just unfinished, barely evenstarted, in May. When I realized
(00:26):
how long I had let myselfprocrastiwork—yes, it's a word,
I made it up—on a million otherthings while I avoided this one
project, I honestly was feelingpretty down about it. Might have
even beaten myself up a littlebit over it.
(00:47):
But right now, today, I can tellyou that I am finally making
real progress on this project,and it feels so good to finally
be moving forward in somethingthat I had put off and really
just struggled with for so long,and it really is all because I
started using AI to help me planmy week. It has made a huge
(01:13):
difference for me. So I wantedto share with you how using chat
GPT to figure out when my brainis working best and organize my
schedule around it, has reallyhelped me finally make progress
on that project and be so muchmore productive on everything
else during my work time too.
Are you a digital product orcourse creator, selling on
(01:35):
platforms like teachers payteachers, Etsy or your own
website, ready to grow yourbusiness, but not into the kind
of constant hustle that leadsstraight to burnout? Then you're
in the right place. Welcome toThe Savvy Seller. I'm Kristen
Doyle, and I'm here to give youno fluff tools and strategies
that move the needle for yourbusiness without burning you out
(01:58):
in the process. Things like SEO,no stress, marketing, email
list, building automations andso much more. Let's get started,
y'all.
Let's start with the back story.
I had some big projects goingon, and one in particular felt
really hard every time I eventhought about trying to work on
(02:23):
it. I really wanted the endresult. In fact, I'm still
excited about getting this done,but I wasn't excited to do the
actual work it was gonna take toget there. And so it kept
getting pushed to the backburner for months and months, I
honestly just was not making anyprogress on it because something
else always came up. I toldmyself for a while that those
(02:48):
something elses were urgent ormore important or just had to
get done first. But the truthis, those other things that came
up were things that I wouldrather put my attention on. They
were things that felt fun, orthey felt easier or something,
and I just would rather do thatthan do this hard project.
(03:09):
Now you probably should knowthat I'm fairly certain I have
undiagnosed ADHD. When I say I'mfairly certain, what I mean is
I'm pretty dang sure. I was ateacher for 10 years. I know
what to look for. I have alsolearned a whole lot about the
things that we miss when itcomes to ADHD, especially in
(03:30):
girls and in adult womenentrepreneurs. So I am fairly
I had this wake up call when Irealized I was wasting so much
certain.
Well that Thursday afternoon,when I was just feeling really
time during my work day. I hadgotten to a point where I had
really intended to work on thisbig project, and it was Thursday
afternoon, and I still hadn'teven started it, and I was
(03:54):
feeling so much resistance totrying to start it. And a couple
of things kind of came to mind.
I realized that my schedulewasn't working for me. See, I
would get up in the morning, Iwould have a little bit of work
time, and then I would go to thegym. Well, by the time I got
home from the gym, showered, gotdressed, ate, it was nearly
(04:16):
lunchtime by the time I reallystarted working, and the truth
is, my brain doesn't work wellin the afternoon, I hit a brick
wall around 1:30 or two o'clock,and I know that happens for a
lot of people.
frustrated and really down,honestly about myself and about
(04:37):
my productivity, I thought, youknow, maybe, maybe I should just
talk this out with chat GPT andsee what comes out of it. You
can probably do this with any AItool, whichever one you like.
Chat GPT is the one I grabbedthat day. I honestly use several
different ones for differentthings. But this chat I had with
chat GPT that day really hascompletely changed how I
(04:59):
approach my work week. And Iknow that sounds dramatic, but
it really honestly has.
Alright so let's talk about thefirst major thing I realized
from this process, from thischat with chat GPT. I kind of
finally figured out when I do mybest work and how I can organize
my day around that. So what Irealized in talking this out is
(05:21):
that when I wake up, 6am ish, mybrain is already spinning with
ideas and things I need to getdone. And of course, I've got
kids to get to school, so earlyin the morning, I'm doing the
kid thing. We're getting up,we're getting dressed, we're
getting breakfast, we're gettingout the door, all of that stuff.
But then the next thing I wasdoing was going to the gym at
8 (05:41):
45 most days. Now I knew that if I wait until the afternoon to
go to the gym, I'm not gonna go.
And to be honest, I was
prioritizing the gym at 8 (05:49):
45 over work at 8:45 because my
afternoons are just asunproductive when it comes to
the gym as they are when itcomes to work.
Chat GPT gave me a hard truth.
And I will say, when you do thisconversation, you have to tell
it, Don't just tell me what Iwant to hear, give me hard
truths. And it told me, pointblank, you are spending your
(06:10):
best brain power time at the gyminstead of on the tough work.
And then when you get back, youneed some recovery time before
you're ready to jump into workagain, and you're basically
wasting your most productivebrain hours on the gym and
recovery time, neither of whichrequire a whole lot of brain
(06:30):
power. So with the help of chatGPT and talking out all of the
schedule constraints and youknow, things I can't change, we
figured out a better way tostructure my day.
that require a lot of brainpower. I bumped my gym time back
to mid morning just beforelunch, which means when I come
(06:55):
home to shower and eat, it'slunchtime anyway, and I have
just one break in my day for allof that stuff, rather than
multiple breaks that really chopup my productive time. All my
client calls are now moved toafternoons because I've learned
(07:16):
I can still be on and focusedand doing good work when I'm
talking to other people on acall, even during that normal
afternoon spot. It's when I'mworking alone that I really just
hit that brick wall and can'tkeep going.
The rest of the afternoonoutside of client calls, is when
I handle tasks that don'trequire as much thought,
answering emails, sending outinvoices, doing admin work, all
(07:41):
of that less taxing work, notthe deeper, harder work that
really needs my full attention.
I do that stuff in my deep workblock in the morning before I go
to the gym. Now, this change inmy schedule has made a huge
difference in how productive Iam every day. Right now, as I
was just planning this podcastepisode, and now, as I'm
(08:02):
recording it, I am in thatmorning deep work block, because
this is work that for me takes alot of thought and a lot of
planning, and I really want tomake sure I'm doing my best work
at this time. In a little while,after I finish this, I'll go to
the gym and I'll do some easierthings this afternoon. So
getting my schedule to matchwhen my brain works best was the
(08:22):
first step.
But the other thing that I amreally loving is using AI to
plan out my entire week in a waythat fits that new schedule, and
also makes sure that I don'tdrop any of all the million
plates I am juggling. And I knowyou probably feel like you're
(08:42):
juggling a million things too.
So let's talk about the way thatI approach this and how I make
this happen.
So the initial kind of setup wasto just pull up chat GPT, hit
the microphone, and I juststarted talking about how I was
feeling. In that moment, I wasfrustrated, so I just started
(09:03):
pouring out all my feelings,even the not so productive ones,
like feeling guilty for notdoing enough work and frustrated
at my lack of progress. But Ialso shared all my scheduling
stuff, the kids' schoolschedules and extracurriculars
and how many hours I want towork and what my options are for
the classes that I go to at thegym, all of those things.
(09:24):
I also grabbed a giant list oftasks for that big project I was
talking about that was in aGoogle Doc, and I pasted that
in, along with a list, just akind of a brain dump, giant list
of all the things that I need toget done on a regular basis. You
know, answering emails,recording podcasts, coaching
calls, doing client work for mymaintenance plan clients, all of
(09:45):
those things, and at the end, Ibasically just asked chat GPT,
help me figure this out.
And initially, chat GPT and Ibroke those big tasks out into
about a four week plan. We won'tget through all of it in four
weeks. We'll take what's left atthat point and do the next
month. But we broke out a planfor the first four weeks. Now
(10:06):
that we have that, every Friday,I take about 15 to 20 minutes to
plan the next week's tasks. AndI input three main things—what
is left from this week's to dolist, because let's face it,
things come up, and sometimesyou don't get to everything. So
the few things that are leftfrom this week's to do list,
what was our big picture planfrom that bigger project for
(10:28):
next week, and then I put in mywhole calendar for next week,
all the personal stuff, all thebusiness called everything.
Right now I am dealing with endof school activities. We've got
fairy tale ball this week andawards ceremony next week and
half days and field days and allthe things. So my calendar is
extra full with personal stuffin addition to all the client
(10:49):
calls.
So I put all of that in and thenchat. GPT builds out a daily
schedule for me that lookssomething like, Monday, during
your deep work block, you'regoing to do these two specific
tasks, and then in yourafternoon, they call it flex
time, do these easier tasks.
Tuesday's deep work you're goingto accomplish this. And then
Tuesday afternoon, you'll dothose. Wednesday, you've got a
(11:11):
lot going on in the afternoon,so let's just do a deep work
block in the morning, go to thegym, and then do your family
stuff in the afternoon. And ittakes what I need to get done
and spreads it out across theweek in a way that works with
the way my brain functions. Iget that hard stuff done in the
morning, and it also gives methe time blocked out for calls I
(11:33):
have scheduled, for kids events,all of that kind of stuff.
One of the best things for me isthat I don't have to spend my
mental energy figuring out whatto do when. That's been huge for
me, because that decision makingprocess itself can just be
exhausting, and it naturallyneeds to get done on Friday
afternoon. And I already toldyou, my afternoons are not my
(11:56):
good work time, so I don't haveto spend my own mental energy on
this, because chat GPT ishelping me do it.
Now this has been honestly so,so helpful for me, but I want to
be honest about the good and thenot so good parts before you try
it yourself. So like I said, oneof the biggest benefits for me
has been taking the mental loadoff. Instead of me having to
(12:20):
look at everything and compareto my schedule and start putting
things in and moving them aroundand figuring it out, AI does
that for me. Most of the time,the reality is it doesn't matter
if I do a specific task Mondayor Tuesday, as long as it gets
done early this week. But havingto figure all that out takes a
lot of mental work, and itexhausts me.
I also feel super accomplishedwhen I check things off of a to
do list. So having things listedout in a checklist, in my notion
(12:47):
dashboard, really helps me. Iwant to see them checked off,
but I've always just struggledwith figuring out what to put
where and how long things willtake. So this has given me those
concrete daily plans. I get tofeel the satisfaction of
checking off the tasks, but Idon't have the mental drain of
creating the plan or the stressand frustration and honestly
(13:07):
overwhelm when I look at the biglist of things to do this week
and then all of my commitmentsthat are taking away from my
work time. It also has reallyhelped me to balance making
progress on big projects butalso keeping all those regular
business tasks going that keepthings running in my business.
Now, chat GPT does make mistakessometimes, there are some
(13:29):
limitations here. I have, attimes, loaded in a calendar that
says I have a call on Wednesday,and it puts it on the schedule
for Thursday instead. I've putin that I have a podcast episode
due on Tuesday, and it scheduledme to record it Wednesday, which
obviously won't work. I want torecord it the day before the
(13:50):
deadline, not the day after, andnot even the day of, really. So
you do have to look over theplan and make sure everything
has been put in in a way thatworks for you, that usually just
takes me a couple of minutes. Imight shift a few things around.
I've also had a couple timeswhere a big priority kind of got
left off of the schedule. So Ido keep a separate Google Doc
(14:11):
with that big picture weeklyoutline that we had created, and
I kind of just mark things offof there as they get done. That
way I can see things that aregetting left and make sure
nothing's falling through thecracks.
Now, yes, there are somelimitations, but I will say the
initial conversation I had withchat GPT was probably 45 minutes
or so of talking and thinkingand kind of going back and forth
(14:35):
on things. That was also when Iwas creating my dashboard in
notion with the schedule. Sothere's a little bit of
tinkering with notion, templatesand things, during that 45
minutes. But now, on a weeklybasis, I'm really only spending
15, maybe 20 minutes everyFriday afternoon on planning for
the next week. So consideringthat, I am finally making big
(14:56):
progress on a project that hadbeen stalled for five months or
more, I think that timeinvestment has definitely been
more than worth it for me, evenwith the limitations and the
mistakes that chat GPT sometimesmakes.
I honestly think that thisapproach could really be useful
for anybody who's super busy andhas trouble staying on track and
planning things out. Not justfor people with ADHD tendencies
(15:18):
like mine, although wedefinitely struggle with this
more than other people do. So ifyou are feeling overwhelmed by
your own to do list, or youstruggle to make progress on big
projects, here are some actionsteps that you can use to try
this out for your own business.
So first, spend a little bit oftime just kind of paying
attention to when your brain isworking the best. Pay attention
(15:42):
to when you're naturally doingyour best work. Notice when you
tend to hit a wall or losefocus. What's going on? What
time of day is that? Startpaying attention to that before
you ever start talking to AIabout your schedule.
Another thing you shoulddefinitely do is start making a
master task list. List out allthose weekly, regular, recurring
(16:03):
tasks that keep your businessgoing. Add in any big projects
you're working on or things thatyou need to complete and don't
forget to include some detailsabout your personal commitments,
your schedule constraints, kids'pickup times at school, whatever
it is that you have going onthat kind of blocks your day in.
And then open up chat GPT, andjust start talking about your
(16:26):
schedule and the challengesyou're having.
I love to do this using themicrophone, not typing on a
keyboard, so I usually use theapp on my phone and just start
talking. Be really honest aboutwhat's working and what isn't.
Share all of that informationthat you gathered when you work
best, your task list, yourcalendar, all of those things,
(16:48):
and ask for help creating aweekly plan that works for your
brain. While you're at it, talkabout your frustrations if you
need to. Chat GPT will give youa really nice pep talk if you
start telling it that you'refrustrated with yourself. So if
you need that little pick me up,share all of that information.
If you want somewhere to startright now, for this week, just
(17:11):
kind of pay attention to whenyou're feeling most productive
and when you're struggling. Jotdown some notes about those best
work times, or just take amental note, and then take 30
minutes on Friday or thisweekend to start that initial
conversation with chat GPT aboutwhen it's going to work best for
you to do different tasks.
(17:32):
I would love to hear how youplan your week, or if you're
going to try this AI planningmethod that I share, shoot me a
DM on Instagram @kristendoyle.coand let me know what you think,
or if you have any questionsabout my process. If you use
notion, I'd be glad to send overmy notion dashboard for you as
well, if you'd like a littlekickstart with getting that set
(17:54):
up. And if this episode helpedyou think differently about your
schedule, take a screenshot andshare it in your stories. I
would love to see it and shareit with my audience, too. I'll
talk to you soon.
Have you ever had those big, important projects you know
(00:03):
you need to do that just keepgetting pushed to the back
burner for weeks or even months?
It happens to me a whole lotmore than I would like to admit.
In fact, I just recentlyrealized that a project I had
started in December was stillsitting, barely even touched,
not just unfinished, barely evenstarted, in May. When I realized
(00:26):
how long I had let myselfprocrastiwork—yes, it's a word,
I made it up—on a million otherthings while I avoided this one
project, I honestly was feelingpretty down about it. Might have
even beaten myself up a littlebit over it.
(00:47):
But right now, today, I can tellyou that I am finally making
real progress on this project,and it feels so good to finally
be moving forward in somethingthat I had put off and really
just struggled with for so long,and it really is all because I
started using AI to help me planmy week. It has made a huge
(01:13):
difference for me. So I wantedto share with you how using chat
GPT to figure out when my brainis working best and organize my
schedule around it, has reallyhelped me finally make progress
on that project and be so muchmore productive on everything
else during my work time too.
Are you a digital product orcourse creator, selling on
(01:35):
platforms like teachers payteachers, Etsy or your own
website, ready to grow yourbusiness, but not into the kind
of constant hustle that leadsstraight to burnout? Then you're
in the right place. Welcome toThe Savvy Seller. I'm Kristen
Doyle, and I'm here to give youno fluff tools and strategies
that move the needle for yourbusiness without burning you out
(01:58):
in the process. Things like SEO,no stress, marketing, email
list, building automations andso much more. Let's get started,
y'all.
Let's start with the back story.
I had some big projects goingon, and one in particular felt
really hard every time I eventhought about trying to work on
(02:23):
it. I really wanted the endresult. In fact, I'm still
excited about getting this done,but I wasn't excited to do the
actual work it was gonna take toget there. And so it kept
getting pushed to the backburner for months and months, I
honestly just was not making anyprogress on it because something
else always came up. I toldmyself for a while that those
(02:48):
something elses were urgent ormore important or just had to
get done first. But the truthis, those other things that came
up were things that I wouldrather put my attention on. They
were things that felt fun, orthey felt easier or something,
and I just would rather do thatthan do this hard project.
(03:09):
Now you probably should knowthat I'm fairly certain I have
undiagnosed ADHD. When I say I'mfairly certain, what I mean is
I'm pretty dang sure. I was ateacher for 10 years. I know
what to look for. I have alsolearned a whole lot about the
things that we miss when itcomes to ADHD, especially in
(03:30):
girls and in adult womenentrepreneurs. So I am fairly
I had this wake up call when Irealized I was wasting so much
certain.
Well that Thursday afternoon,when I was just feeling really
time during my work day. I hadgotten to a point where I had
really intended to work on thisbig project, and it was Thursday
afternoon, and I still hadn'teven started it, and I was
(03:54):
feeling so much resistance totrying to start it. And a couple
of things kind of came to mind.
I realized that my schedulewasn't working for me. See, I
would get up in the morning, Iwould have a little bit of work
time, and then I would go to thegym. Well, by the time I got
home from the gym, showered, gotdressed, ate, it was nearly
(04:16):
lunchtime by the time I reallystarted working, and the truth
is, my brain doesn't work wellin the afternoon, I hit a brick
wall around 1:30 or two o'clock,and I know that happens for a
lot of people.
frustrated and really down,honestly about myself and about
(04:37):
my productivity, I thought, youknow, maybe, maybe I should just
talk this out with chat GPT andsee what comes out of it. You
can probably do this with any AItool, whichever one you like.
Chat GPT is the one I grabbedthat day. I honestly use several
different ones for differentthings. But this chat I had with
chat GPT that day really hascompletely changed how I
(04:59):
approach my work week. And Iknow that sounds dramatic, but
it really honestly has.
Alright so let's talk about thefirst major thing I realized
from this process, from thischat with chat GPT. I kind of
finally figured out when I do mybest work and how I can organize
my day around that. So what Irealized in talking this out is
(05:21):
that when I wake up, 6am ish, mybrain is already spinning with
ideas and things I need to getdone. And of course, I've got
kids to get to school, so earlyin the morning, I'm doing the
kid thing. We're getting up,we're getting dressed, we're
getting breakfast, we're gettingout the door, all of that stuff.
But then the next thing I wasdoing was going to the gym at
8 (05:41):
45 most days. Now I knew that if I wait until the afternoon to
go to the gym, I'm not gonna go.
And to be honest, I was
prioritizing the gym at 8 (05:49):
45 over work at 8:45 because my
afternoons are just asunproductive when it comes to
the gym as they are when itcomes to work.
Chat GPT gave me a hard truth.
And I will say, when you do thisconversation, you have to tell
it, Don't just tell me what Iwant to hear, give me hard
truths. And it told me, pointblank, you are spending your
(06:10):
best brain power time at the gyminstead of on the tough work.
And then when you get back, youneed some recovery time before
you're ready to jump into workagain, and you're basically
wasting your most productivebrain hours on the gym and
recovery time, neither of whichrequire a whole lot of brain
(06:30):
power. So with the help of chatGPT and talking out all of the
schedule constraints and youknow, things I can't change, we
figured out a better way tostructure my day.
that require a lot of brainpower. I bumped my gym time back
to mid morning just beforelunch, which means when I come
(06:55):
home to shower and eat, it'slunchtime anyway, and I have
just one break in my day for allof that stuff, rather than
multiple breaks that really chopup my productive time. All my
client calls are now moved toafternoons because I've learned
(07:16):
I can still be on and focusedand doing good work when I'm
talking to other people on acall, even during that normal
afternoon spot. It's when I'mworking alone that I really just
hit that brick wall and can'tkeep going.
The rest of the afternoonoutside of client calls, is when
I handle tasks that don'trequire as much thought,
answering emails, sending outinvoices, doing admin work, all
(07:41):
of that less taxing work, notthe deeper, harder work that
really needs my full attention.
I do that stuff in my deep workblock in the morning before I go
to the gym. Now, this change inmy schedule has made a huge
difference in how productive Iam every day. Right now, as I
was just planning this podcastepisode, and now, as I'm
(08:02):
recording it, I am in thatmorning deep work block, because
this is work that for me takes alot of thought and a lot of
planning, and I really want tomake sure I'm doing my best work
at this time. In a little while,after I finish this, I'll go to
the gym and I'll do some easierthings this afternoon. So
getting my schedule to matchwhen my brain works best was the
(08:22):
first step.
But the other thing that I amreally loving is using AI to
plan out my entire week in a waythat fits that new schedule, and
also makes sure that I don'tdrop any of all the million
plates I am juggling. And I knowyou probably feel like you're
(08:42):
juggling a million things too.
So let's talk about the way thatI approach this and how I make
this happen.
So the initial kind of setup wasto just pull up chat GPT, hit
the microphone, and I juststarted talking about how I was
feeling. In that moment, I wasfrustrated, so I just started
(09:03):
pouring out all my feelings,even the not so productive ones,
like feeling guilty for notdoing enough work and frustrated
at my lack of progress. But Ialso shared all my scheduling
stuff, the kids' schoolschedules and extracurriculars
and how many hours I want towork and what my options are for
the classes that I go to at thegym, all of those things.
(09:24):
I also grabbed a giant list oftasks for that big project I was
talking about that was in aGoogle Doc, and I pasted that
in, along with a list, just akind of a brain dump, giant list
of all the things that I need toget done on a regular basis. You
know, answering emails,recording podcasts, coaching
calls, doing client work for mymaintenance plan clients, all of
(09:45):
those things, and at the end, Ibasically just asked chat GPT,
help me figure this out.
And initially, chat GPT and Ibroke those big tasks out into
about a four week plan. We won'tget through all of it in four
weeks. We'll take what's left atthat point and do the next
month. But we broke out a planfor the first four weeks. Now
(10:06):
that we have that, every Friday,I take about 15 to 20 minutes to
plan the next week's tasks. AndI input three main things—what
is left from this week's to dolist, because let's face it,
things come up, and sometimesyou don't get to everything. So
the few things that are leftfrom this week's to do list,
what was our big picture planfrom that bigger project for
(10:28):
next week, and then I put in mywhole calendar for next week,
all the personal stuff, all thebusiness called everything.
Right now I am dealing with endof school activities. We've got
fairy tale ball this week andawards ceremony next week and
half days and field days and allthe things. So my calendar is
extra full with personal stuffin addition to all the client
(10:49):
calls.
So I put all of that in and thenchat. GPT builds out a daily
schedule for me that lookssomething like, Monday, during
your deep work block, you'regoing to do these two specific
tasks, and then in yourafternoon, they call it flex
time, do these easier tasks.
Tuesday's deep work you're goingto accomplish this. And then
Tuesday afternoon, you'll dothose. Wednesday, you've got a
(11:11):
lot going on in the afternoon,so let's just do a deep work
block in the morning, go to thegym, and then do your family
stuff in the afternoon. And ittakes what I need to get done
and spreads it out across theweek in a way that works with
the way my brain functions. Iget that hard stuff done in the
morning, and it also gives methe time blocked out for calls I
(11:33):
have scheduled, for kids events,all of that kind of stuff.
One of the best things for me isthat I don't have to spend my
mental energy figuring out whatto do when. That's been huge for
me, because that decision makingprocess itself can just be
exhausting, and it naturallyneeds to get done on Friday
afternoon. And I already toldyou, my afternoons are not my
(11:56):
good work time, so I don't haveto spend my own mental energy on
this, because chat GPT ishelping me do it.
Now this has been honestly so,so helpful for me, but I want to
be honest about the good and thenot so good parts before you try
it yourself. So like I said, oneof the biggest benefits for me
has been taking the mental loadoff. Instead of me having to
(12:20):
look at everything and compareto my schedule and start putting
things in and moving them aroundand figuring it out, AI does
that for me. Most of the time,the reality is it doesn't matter
if I do a specific task Mondayor Tuesday, as long as it gets
done early this week. But havingto figure all that out takes a
lot of mental work, and itexhausts me.
I also feel super accomplishedwhen I check things off of a to
do list. So having things listedout in a checklist, in my notion
(12:47):
dashboard, really helps me. Iwant to see them checked off,
but I've always just struggledwith figuring out what to put
where and how long things willtake. So this has given me those
concrete daily plans. I get tofeel the satisfaction of
checking off the tasks, but Idon't have the mental drain of
creating the plan or the stressand frustration and honestly
(13:07):
overwhelm when I look at the biglist of things to do this week
and then all of my commitmentsthat are taking away from my
work time. It also has reallyhelped me to balance making
progress on big projects butalso keeping all those regular
business tasks going that keepthings running in my business.
Now, chat GPT does make mistakessometimes, there are some
(13:29):
limitations here. I have, attimes, loaded in a calendar that
says I have a call on Wednesday,and it puts it on the schedule
for Thursday instead. I've putin that I have a podcast episode
due on Tuesday, and it scheduledme to record it Wednesday, which
obviously won't work. I want torecord it the day before the
(13:50):
deadline, not the day after, andnot even the day of, really. So
you do have to look over theplan and make sure everything
has been put in in a way thatworks for you, that usually just
takes me a couple of minutes. Imight shift a few things around.
I've also had a couple timeswhere a big priority kind of got
left off of the schedule. So Ido keep a separate Google Doc
(14:11):
with that big picture weeklyoutline that we had created, and
I kind of just mark things offof there as they get done. That
way I can see things that aregetting left and make sure
nothing's falling through thecracks.
Now, yes, there are somelimitations, but I will say the
initial conversation I had withchat GPT was probably 45 minutes
or so of talking and thinkingand kind of going back and forth
(14:35):
on things. That was also when Iwas creating my dashboard in
notion with the schedule. Sothere's a little bit of
tinkering with notion, templatesand things, during that 45
minutes. But now, on a weeklybasis, I'm really only spending
15, maybe 20 minutes everyFriday afternoon on planning for
the next week. So consideringthat, I am finally making big
(14:56):
progress on a project that hadbeen stalled for five months or
more, I think that timeinvestment has definitely been
more than worth it for me, evenwith the limitations and the
mistakes that chat GPT sometimesmakes.
I honestly think that thisapproach could really be useful
for anybody who's super busy andhas trouble staying on track and
planning things out. Not justfor people with ADHD tendencies
(15:18):
like mine, although wedefinitely struggle with this
more than other people do. So ifyou are feeling overwhelmed by
your own to do list, or youstruggle to make progress on big
projects, here are some actionsteps that you can use to try
this out for your own business.
So first, spend a little bit oftime just kind of paying
attention to when your brain isworking the best. Pay attention
(15:42):
to when you're naturally doingyour best work. Notice when you
tend to hit a wall or losefocus. What's going on? What
time of day is that? Startpaying attention to that before
you ever start talking to AIabout your schedule.
Another thing you shoulddefinitely do is start making a
master task list. List out allthose weekly, regular, recurring
(16:03):
tasks that keep your businessgoing. Add in any big projects
you're working on or things thatyou need to complete and don't
forget to include some detailsabout your personal commitments,
your schedule constraints, kids'pickup times at school, whatever
it is that you have going onthat kind of blocks your day in.
And then open up chat GPT, andjust start talking about your
(16:26):
schedule and the challengesyou're having.
I love to do this using themicrophone, not typing on a
keyboard, so I usually use theapp on my phone and just start
talking. Be really honest aboutwhat's working and what isn't.
Share all of that informationthat you gathered when you work
best, your task list, yourcalendar, all of those things,
(16:48):
and ask for help creating aweekly plan that works for your
brain. While you're at it, talkabout your frustrations if you
need to. Chat GPT will give youa really nice pep talk if you
start telling it that you'refrustrated with yourself. So if
you need that little pick me up,share all of that information.
If you want somewhere to startright now, for this week, just
(17:11):
kind of pay attention to whenyou're feeling most productive
and when you're struggling. Jotdown some notes about those best
work times, or just take amental note, and then take 30
minutes on Friday or thisweekend to start that initial
conversation with chat GPT aboutwhen it's going to work best for
you to do different tasks.
(17:32):
I would love to hear how youplan your week, or if you're
going to try this AI planningmethod that I share, shoot me a
DM on Instagram @kristendoyle.coand let me know what you think,
or if you have any questionsabout my process. If you use
notion, I'd be glad to send overmy notion dashboard for you as
well, if you'd like a littlekickstart with getting that set
(17:54):
up. And if this episode helpedyou think differently about your
schedule, take a screenshot andshare it in your stories. I
would love to see it and shareit with my audience, too. I'll
talk to you soon.
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