Five quick ways ChatGPT can help with ADHD overwhelm
Agonizing over an email draft? Drowning in housework? Gen AI doesn't solve every problem, but can act a bit like an executive function coach or personal assistant.
I’ve worked in technology for almost 20 years and have seen a lot of overhyped technologies come and go, so I have a healthy amount of skepticism when new technologies like generative AI (e.g., ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Microsoft CoPilot, etc.) are rolled out and promise to solve everyone’s problems.
To me, right now, Gen AI is merely a tool to get work done faster and ideally take a little bit of the drudgery out of tasks that don’t really deserve our precious time and brain power. Humans (especially ADHD folks in my experience) are simply too creative and interesting to waste their lives composing emails, so generative AI seems like the perfect way to reduce time spent on those types of tasks that no one really enjoys.
As a person with ADHD, I see a ton of value and promise in the ability for AI to reduce the time I have to spend on boring tasks, as well as help me with some barriers and bad habits I’ve developed over the years.
Here are five ways I’m using ChatGPT on a daily basis to smooth out some of the bumpier areas of my ADHD life:
Email
Motivation
Housework
Meal Planning
Getting Started
You could use the example prompts with any generative AI, not just ChatGPT, I just personally am preferring ChatGPT at the moment (I also use Goblin Tools for to-do lists, which uses AI to break down tasks, but I’ll cover that another time).
Email
I don’t think I’m alone as an ADHD/neurodivergent person in obsessing over writing the perfect email that won’t make anyone feel bad. I’m a manager so sometimes have to give negative feedback and I hate it. I know I myself am prone to some Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria and probably project too much of that and others who don’t mind it as much; I always worry I’m going to devastate people by reminding them a task is overdue or something.
Example ChatGPT prompt:
Write an email in a friendly encouraging tone asking for a progress update on the database migration project and asking if we can complete the project by the end of the month
ChatGPT:
The tone of this is a little bit too “If you could come in on Saturday…” for me but a few small changes makes this ready to send without me agonizing over how to even start an email like this.
Motivation
Because ADHD is a deficiency in the brain’s reward system, motivation can be really hard to come by naturally. Logically, I know I have a million things to do and I need to focus on them. ADHD-wise, I’d rather do literally anything else.
Example ChatGPT prompt:
Today I have to work on the monthly newsletter, finish the draft of the content for the new pages published by Tuesday, and complete the budget template. Please motivate me to get started and plan out a schedule for today between 11AM and 2PM to work on these tasks.
ChatGPT:
Housework
If I am left to my own devices, my housework schedule goes like this:
Do nothing for 6 days
Pull an all-nighter on the 7th day when I can’t take the mess anymore and clean like my life depends on it
Repeat (adding +1 exhaustion to each iteration)
But if I ask ChatGPT:
Create a housework schedule that divides tasks between me, my spouse, and 2 young kids over the course of a week. Include laundry and dishes daily, cleaning out the fridge, sweeping, mopping, vacuuming, dusting and decluttering, and cleaning the bathroom
ChatGPT advises:
It’s not perfect, but I can print out that table with just a few edits (not sure I need to dust the bedroom closet…) and it’s better than nothing!
Meal Planning
This is actually my favorite, and I delegate it to my daughter because she has fun with it as well.
Prompt:
make a 7-day meal plan with the following ingredients: carrots, celery, milk, cream, butter, salt, pepper, butter, olive oil, barbacoa, pollo asado, shredded pork, refried beans, potatoes, kale, lemons, limes, cherries, cantaloupe, honeydew, watermelon, starfruit, chuck roast, coffee, tea, chai mix, bananas, pancake mix, syrup, bread, ham, salad, caesar salad mix, apples, oranges, tortillas, tortilla chips, shredded cheese, peanut butter, jelly, sugar, chili powder, rice, flour, baking powder, baking soda, vanilla extract. only 1 day should be tacos1
The entire ChatGPT output is way too long to put here, but here’s a sample:
If you don’t want to make an inventory of what you have for the prompt, you could just ask for a meal plan and tell ChatGPT to put a shopping list at the end with everything you’d need for the week. But ChatGPT can remember things within the same chat thread, so once you input your typical pantry staples, you can slightly modify your prompt for the next week (e.g., make a meal plan for the next 7 days with the same ingredients above except no barbacoa or starfruit and add pork tenderloin, black beans, chicken thighs and Tikka Masala sauce)
Start a work task
Task initiation is super hard for me. I’ll make a million excuses for why I’m just not quite ready to start something. If I can’t start it, maybe ChatGPT can:
Make an outline of a powerpoint presentation about new ADA accessibility requirements for websites
The output is again way too long, but here’s a summary of the slide titles it gave me:
GenAI at this point isn’t getting anywhere near solving all of my problems with overwhelm, but it does help. I don’t recommend treating it too much like a friend or therapist, and obviously don’t recommend telling it any private information and don’t ask it for medical or mental health advice.
Having said that -
When I can’t think of anything to make, I make tacos. Therefore we have tacos about 50% of the time if I don’t meal plan. I can eat tacos all day every day but I’m definitely the only one in my house who feels that way.