It’s always interesting to take note of behaviors that cause the people I know to remain in a positive state of mind and the ones that tamper with their well-being.
Clearly, staying out all night before a workday, ordering Uber Eats every night and constantly getting fooled by AI videos that are clearly meant to infuriate have taken a toll on some of the people I know. But there are a few friends and family members I’ve come across lately that seem to be in good spirits, thanks to daily workouts, analog activities and conversations with equally positive people.
I’m usually in a good mood thanks to the habits I’ve built up over the years, but I know there’s always room for improvement. That goal pushed me to ask ChatGPT for a list of the best prompts that push it to help anyone develop the sort of tendencies that will steadily improve their lives.
ChatGPT recognized my intention of converting it into my personal habit coach, generated some super useful prompts and helped me attach three new handy habits to my lifestyle pattern in the process.
The 7 prompts that can turn ChatGPT into your digital practical habit coach
After simply asking ChatGPT, “Give me 7 of the best ChatGPT prompts anyone can use to help them build healthier habits,” it got right to work coming up with the following collection of commands that help it deliver positive habit-building practices:
- The Habit Audit: Act as my habit coach. I want to build a healthier lifestyle without completely changing my routine. Ask me 10 questions about my sleep, diet, exercise, stress, screen time and daily schedule. Based on my answers, identify the 3 habits that would likely give me the biggest improvement with the least effort. For each one, give me a simple way to start today and a realistic way to maintain it.
- The Tiny Habits Prompt: Help me build healthier habits using the smallest possible steps. Choose 5 areas of my life that could benefit from a healthier habit and give me a version of each habit that takes less than 2 minutes to complete. Then show me how I can gradually increase each habit over 30 days without making the changes feel overwhelming.
- The Habit Stacking Prompt: Ask me about the things I already do every day, such as waking up, brushing my teeth, making coffee, eating meals and going to bed. Then find opportunities to attach one healthy habit to each existing routine. Give me 7 habit-stacking ideas, explain why each pairing makes sense, and rank them from easiest to hardest.
- The Bad-Habit Replacement Prompt: Help me replace my unhealthy habits rather than simply telling me to stop them. Ask me about 5 habits I want to change and what usually triggers them. For each habit, identify the underlying need I'm trying to satisfy and suggest 3 healthier replacements that provide a similar reward. Make the replacements realistic enough that I could actually use them in everyday life.
- The 30-Day Habit Challenge: Create a 30-day challenge designed to help me become healthier without requiring a gym membership, expensive products or a complete lifestyle overhaul. Give me one small task per day involving movement, nutrition, sleep, hydration, stress management or reducing sedentary time. Make the tasks gradually more challenging, but keep every individual task realistic for a busy person.
- The Habit Failure Investigator: I keep trying to build healthy habits but eventually fall off track. Act like a habit detective. Ask me questions about when I usually fail, what triggers it, what my environment looks like, how much time I have and what I expect from myself. Then identify the most likely reasons I'm failing and redesign my habits around those obstacles. Don't tell me to simply “have more discipline.”
- The Personal Health Routine: Help me design a simple daily routine that supports better health without taking over my life. First ask me about my schedule, current habits, sleep, meals, activity level, stress and the health goals I care about. Then create a morning, daytime and evening routine with no more than 3 habits in each section. Prioritize habits that are inexpensive, sustainable and easy to measure. Include a backup version for days when I have almost no time or motivation.
Using the first prompt to adopt three new daily rituals that will benefit me the most
Since I was open to participating in a ChatGPT-led Q&A, I put the first prompt into action.
The 10 questions the chatbot shot back at me covered the following topics in relation to my daily habits: sleep, sleep quality, breakfast, typical diet, exercise, daily movement, stress, screen time, schedule and the easy-win question. I answered them as honestly as I could (and was a little bit embarrassed about a few of them, to be quite honest).
Scarfing down some chocolate Teddy Grahams & orange juice in the morning (the breakfast of champions, if you ask me!), sitting for hours while I type for hours on end during the work week and getting stressed out whenever writer’s block hits me like a brick stood out as some of my worst tendencies. ChatGPT wasn’t too harsh in its overall response—it noted that I already have a solid foundation due to my respectable sleep schedule, my daily water consumption, my regular walks, moving around during my breaks and doing exercises I actually enjoy.
While it didn’t suggest I perform a lifestyle overhaul, it offered up these three major habits that could bring even more prosperity to my physical and mental health:
- Turn your existing exercise into a simple strength routine: This directly addresses the one area you identified yourself, while building on exercises you already enjoy. You don't need to suddenly become a 5-day-a-week gym person. Do a 20-minute strength session 2 days a week. Keep it extremely simple. Pick two recurring days—say Tuesday and Saturday—and treat those as your "gym days." If you miss one, don't compensate by doubling up. Just resume at the next opportunity.
- Upgrade your breakfast without making breakfast a project: Your current breakfast is essentially a quick hit of refined carbohydrates and sugar. Since you also wake up somewhat tired, breakfast is an easy place to make a small nutritional improvement without changing the rest of your diet. Keep the Teddy Grahams and orange juice if you enjoy them, but add one protein-rich food. A protein shake or Greek yogurt counts.
- Create an afternoon screen-time boundary: This is probably the easiest place to reclaim some time without sacrificing the hobbies that help you decompress. You specifically said your screen use peaks in the afternoon, while your evenings contain activities you genuinely enjoy. I wouldn't tell you to "stop watching TV" or "use your phone less." Instead, create one screen-free block during the afternoon. This could also be useful when you're struggling to come up with article ideas: instead of immediately reaching for another screen, take a walk or listen to music and let your brain disengage.
The takeaway
Reading through ChatGPT’s selection of better habits that I should execute inspired me to do just that.
Locking in to do three sets of 10 push-ups, squats and sit-ups alongside five minutes of stretching before leaving the house gets the blood flowing even more once the sun rises. Eating some pistachios or cashews and drinking a protein shake became a part of my new go-to morning ritual. And taking the time to get into brainstorming mode just by walking around my neighborhood or outside my workplace without my phone in hand led to more lightbulb moments of creativity.
ChatGPT’s positive habit-building tips worked a lot better than I expected.
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