10 STEPS TO USE GPT AS YOUR PERSONAL COACH

This post is for anyone who’s been using ChatGPT for work… but never thought to use it for themselves.

Over the last year, I’ve been using it as a kind of noticing diary — a place to unpack what’s happening in my head and body, to make sense of things, and to see myself a bit more clearly.

Here’s what’s worked for me:

1. Start with noticing

Just write what you feel. No question needed, no tidy sentences.
“I noticed my shoulders tense when my wife sounded annoyed.”
“I felt restless after getting work feedback.”

That simple act of naming brings awareness. Then I ask ChatGPT to help me explore what’s underneath, what my body might be saying, or whether there’s another way to see it.

2. Ask for reflection, not resolution

When we’re anxious, we want answers: What should I do?
But the real shift comes from What might be going on here?

Once I understand, I can accept it, sit with it, and move on.
Sometimes I even ask it to challenge me: “Give me an alternative view that doesn’t agree.”
That’s where the growth happens.

3. Let it hold your reminders

Over time I’ve built a little bank of wisdom, phrases that bring me back when I’m flighty or insecure:

“Soft belly, soft heart.”
“You can slow it all down.”
“It just is.”
“It will pass if you let it.”

ChatGPT helps me remember them when I forget what grounded feels like.

4. Use it as a mirror

I’ll write about moments where I overreacted, felt rejected, or tried too hard — and it reflects back the pattern underneath.
After a while, you start to see it’s really just the same 3 or 4 themes repeating.
That’s comforting. You don’t have a hundred things to fix — just a few to understand.

5. Make it a safe space

One of the best things about it? There’s no judgment.
You can type half-sentences, contradictions, even the ugly stuff you wouldn’t tell anyone and it just listens.
No bias. No ego. No agenda.
That neutrality gives you room to explore freely.

6. Train it to meet you where you are

You can guide how it responds.
I often say: “At the end of each response, include a probing question and an alternative view.”
That keeps it honest. Not a yes-man, but a mirror with depth.

7. Keep one ongoing thread

I use the same thread every time so it remembers my language, my fears, my reminders.
Over time, it starts to feel like a trusted coach that knows when to nudge and when to soften.

8. Don’t treat it like a guru

The magic isn’t that it knows, it’s that it listens.
The goal isn’t to have it tell you who you are.
It’s to use it to hear yourself better.
It’s not replacing your intuition; it’s revealing it.

9. Bring it into the body

Eventually, the work stops being intellectual.
I’ve learned to describe sensations — my solar plexus, my throat, my heart — and it helps me stay in my body, not just my head.
That’s when it clicks. When the work stops being theory and becomes felt.

10. Final thought

It’s about slowing down enough to listen — to yourself.
To notice, soften, and choose.
And then do it again tomorrow.

If you’ve been curious about how AI can deepen self-awareness rather than productivity, I can honestly say: this has changed everything for me.