Last week, G and I did a big brainstorming session for the blog.  We typically like to do this before we start back in the new year, but that isn’t how it works out sometimes.   In years past, we have done these sessions as early as November in preparation for a cohesive start to the year and insight as to where we are heading over the next twelve months.  If I am being honest, some years we don’t sit down for a good virtual brainstorming session until April if we have a few ideas to get us going.  I know, It’s a wonder how we manage our lives let alone a weekly blog.

Anyway, we started discussing our thoughts and as always we had maybe three ideas between the two of us when we began, but by the end, we had filled three pages.  One idea sparked another and so on.  Inspiration can come from anywhere.  Usually, our lives spark enough banter between us that we can come up with a few months of ideas right from the start.  Other times, we rely on something we heard while scrolling through social media or a great passage from a book to inspire us.  Of course, one must be careful lest we forget about the great “Simple and Free” experiment we did thanks to Jen Hatmaker.  A few years back, we were inspired by her book and decided to do her 7-month experiment on eliminating excess and we took all of you on the ride with us, bless your hearts.  Some of it was great.  I think we all enjoyed decluttering our homes, but eating only 7 foods for an entire month?  Nope.  Honestly, I’m surprised any of you are even still here after that.  

Speaking of simple and free, though, I heard another idea recently that you might be into and it won’t take you 7 months.

Hoda Kotb, from the Today Show, recently retired and as she navigates this new chapter she shared how to create a blueprint of sorts on her social media.  I immediately sent it to G because it seemed like one of those things we needed to try, talk about and of course share with all of you.

Feel free to go listen to her post for yourself on Instagram @HodaKotb, otherwise this is what she suggested we all try for ourselves as we begin working on our goals for this new year.

This involves ChatGPT, so if you are against using this tool, have a great day and we will see you next week, otherwise these are the instructions:

First, you need to open up your notes app on your phone and type your hopes and dreams for the future.  All of it.  What do you want to be, where do you want to live and vacation, who do you hope to be as a person, and what are your aspirations, do you work out, walk, write, sing, tap dance, paint, ride horses, anything you dream of doing in the future and how it makes you feel, type it in your note.  You can do this in 5 minutes or over 5 days.  It’s totally up to you.  

Once you feel like you have it all down, copy and paste it into the ChatGPT app.  Then type this sentence prior to your dreams:  Tell me a story of a day in my life as my future self based on this description.  Hit enter and it will immediately spit out the most beautiful story about your future.  Seriously, you will want to weep.

Then, type, Create a daily schedule based on this story and it will give you an hour-by-hour schedule for your day.  

So, I did this and it was brilliant.  I honestly didn’t even know what to expect because full-disclosoure, I really haven’t done much at all with ChatGPT.  I highly recommend as it spit out such a beautiful story of my future.  Truly, It’s a surreal experience to type all these things and then have it transformed into an amazing story.  I mean even the paragraph about working out made me want to be that person.

The beauty of this is that you can see what your life will look like in very descriptive language and if you don’t like something, change it, tweak it, re-work the whole thing if you like. It’s your future.

When G and I originally discussed this idea, we assumed we would share our individual stories.  While we could do that, it wouldn’t mean anything to you.  Each of us has our own story, our own dreams and my story shouldn’t look like yours.  

Go open your notes app and start dreaming. Your future self is waiting to be revealed.