Club Benefits
Some days my to-do list feels like a tangled mess. Between writing assignments, research and deadlines, it’s easy to lose track of what should come first — or forget a task entirely.
Even though I’ve settled into a daily work routine over the past few months, unexpected requests and shifting priorities can quickly throw the whole day off. With so many tasks competing for attention, figuring out what to tackle first can be surprisingly stressful.
The result? My day instantly felt more manageable — and I stopped worrying about what needed to get done next.
My prompt helped ChatGPT build a structured, high-productivity work plan
I gave ChatGPT the duty of becoming my digital task manager with this beefy prompt that included the tasks I designate my workdays around:
"Act as a productivity strategist. Organize the following tasks into a daily schedule. Prioritize by urgency and impact. Batch similar tasks. Protect deep work blocks. Assume 8 focused hours per day. Highlight what can be delegated or postponed:
Respond to emails and Slack conversation threads
Surf the web for AI news
Research new headline & article ideas
Try new prompts with AI tools
Finish an article draft for my editor
Follow up with my editor for article feedback
Take an hour-long lunch break
Update weekly content schedule"
My new productivity plan was then broken down into four tiers centered under a list entitled “Priority Breakdown” that goes as follows:
- Highest Priority (Do First): Finish an article draft for my editor and follow up with my editor for article feedback
- Medium Priority (Strategic Growth): Research new headline & article ideas and update weekly content schedule
- Low Priority (Exploratory/Flexible): Try new prompts with AI tools and surf the web for AI news
- Necessary but Contained: Respond to emails and Slack threads (batch only)
I then took note of the newly optimized work schedule generated by ChatGPT, which split my eight-hour workday into focused time blocks and included which assignments I should tend to. The two blocks that helped me lock in on my journalism projects the most were the first and second Deep Work Blocks.
The first Deep Work Block (set up for 9:20 am - 12 pm) emphasized finishing an article draft for my editor, while my phone was put on silent, I didn’t peek at my Slack/emails, I worked in a 90-minute sprint, and aimed to complete a draft while not attempting to make it perfect.
My second Deep Work Block (which was slotted from 1:10 pm to 2:30 pm) centered on strategic thinking, which entails researching new headline & article concepts, capturing all those ideas in an organized doc, and evaluating the traffic & trending potential for each one.
ChatGPT considered my personal workflow — and saved me time
Since ChatGPT already has a good sense of my preferences, it did a commendable job generating a productivity plan that adapted to them. That included the available time I gave it, my work style, my typical energy levels and the deadlines I was juggling. Once I put the plan into action for a full week, I started tracking how much time I was actually saving each day while still hitting my work targets.
Decision fatigue quickly became a thing of the past. Instead of spending 20 to 30 minutes every morning trying to figure out what to work on first — and constantly reshuffling my task list throughout the day — I simply followed the plan.
The result was surprising. I reclaimed about 45 to 60 minutes every day just by eliminating the mental bottlenecks that used to come with planning my workload on my own.
ChatGPT also listed five key work principles that I now follow every time I boot up my laptop:
- Create before you consume
- Batch communication twice
- Protect 2 deep work blocks
- Put R&D at the end of the day
- Lunch is a protected energy recovery session
ChatGPT also offered a few helpful extras. It suggested turning my daily productivity plan into a reusable weekly template, creating an alternate low-energy version for slower days (not likely for me — staying in high-energy mode is usually the only way I get through my workload) and even building a customized plan designed specifically for editorial professionals like me.
The takeaway
My workload may not be immense, but planning around it once was. Tapping into ChatGPT remedy that issue benefitted me greatly — it helped me pinpoint my most important objectives, set aside time blocks for every activity and end all the confusion that used to come with figuring out what to focus on next after finishing a task.
It might be working with ChatGPT to generate a productivity plan for your own professional development, workout plan, creative endeavors or whatever else that keeps you busy on a daily basis.
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