AI as accountability and executive function support partner?
View from fireplace lounge at our local library
My favorite thing about everyone having access to AI on literally every device we own is that we all pretend we’re not using it or somehow shy away from openly sharing how it’s unequivocably and irreversibly changed our lives in mere months. And for those who are part of the resistance, the non-user group, my favorite thing about their side of the story is that they too aren’t transparent about why they’re bucking the system, what concerns them most or why they feel the need to resist. All at once we face unprecedented access, unprecedented technological tools and unprecedented closed-off-ness. Good stuff! (Kidding.)
In my effort to champion openness, I’ll share that I too resisted much of AI’s application in my personal life for the longest time. I’d adopted various forms of it for my profession, for corporate imperatives, and at the time a lot of that onboarding felt experimental and clunky. But at home, or on my personal devices, I was not eagerly turning to AI. In fact, because my corporate experience had been so clunky, I was hesitant to put my personal information anywhere on the cloud, unsure how then versions of ChatGPT and other tools would add value to my life, and it took an extra couple of months for me to engineer strings and parameters that made sense for me.
It wasn’t until I recalibrated the way I viewed a limitless AI tech as the potential aid in areas where I could use support. For example, I am a big-picture thinker, great with Powerpoint presentations and vast spreadsheets but not as great at daily task management. In my curiosity, I developed a ChatGPT accountability chat to “check in” on a master list of action items or tasks based on a masterplan I’d created for myself. The act of building the plan, programming ChatGPT to review it and then training it to trigger daily actions and check-ins took all of 30 minutes, but actually became an aid for me. As Dr. Tamara Rosier states in “Your Brain’s Not Broken,” some brains require different ways of entering into tasks in order to properly establish motivation and to stay on track. Though I’ve never been diagnosed with ADHD, I see so many tendencies for inattentive ADHD traits in my own behavior. This simple AI accountability partner was helping to bridge the gap between my initial idea or aim and the tiny steps I needed to accomplish in order to achieve my aim.
Similarly, that level of executive functioning that demands task-forward strategy can be difficult when a brain is more comfortable operating from the 30,000 foot lens. Once I realized that ChatGPT could be a check-in and accountability partner for me, I tested its ability to advise me on executive functioning steps. Steps that may seem irrelevant or minor to others, but weighed on me and sucked up so much time! Instead of thinking to myself “Should I phrase my email this way or that way?” and spending an hour writing and rewriting said email, I could explain my goal and what I was trying to communicate and to whom to ChatGPT. Then I’d program ChatGPT with some context, for example, “Act like a hiring manager and advise which statement is stronger for a prospective candidate…” or “Act as an executive coach and create a draft of a response that articulates XYZ need with a firm deadline…” and ChatGPT could act as my sounding board or draft a solid starting point for what I needed.
All this to say, I encourage any non-AI using folks to unpack its capabilities and consider training and developing these tools in ways that complement all of your hard work. Surely the strategy and critical thinking you are bringing to any challenge is still valuable, so allowing a tool to pickup some of the slack work, or support you in simple ways that simply make your day a little easier…a bit more productive…will always be a win.
Fireplace lounge at the local library, premium spot for studying and reading!