ChatGPT as a Thought-Catching System

Ever had an (inspiring) idea while walking, only to forget it by the time you got home? I used to struggle with this constantly. But thanks to my new Thought-Catching System, I now have a tool that not only captures but also organizes and processes my thoughts, enhancing my personal insight.

Capturing fleeting thoughts and ideas is crucial, yet often elusive, much like trying to catch butterflies with your hands. (re)Introduced by Alain de Botton's "butterfly thinking" from his book?How to Think, this concept emphasizes the importance of capturing ephemeral ideas that flit through our consciousness, an activity that enriches our understanding and creativity.

I find traditional journaling with pen and paper effective, but it lacks the dynamic interaction I crave. Similarly, I've used voice memos to record thoughts on the go, which, while helpful, missed a structured and automated approach to interact with these captured ideas.

This system is designed to not only store thoughts as they occur but to interact with them in a meaningful way, facilitating deeper analysis and systematic reflection. It blends the personal touch of traditional journaling with the efficiency and interactivity of modern technology, offering a robust framework to enhance their mental clarity. Let's explore how this thought-catching system works and the unique benefits it offers.

GPTs and Thought-Catching Systems:

A?Custom GPT?is a specialized version of ChatGPT configured for particular tasks or interests, analogous to programming a highly skilled assistant to perform specific jobs. This capability allows users to tailor the AI's responses and functionalities to suit individual needs, streamlining tasks such as data handling, content creation, or even personal journaling.

In the context of the Thought-Catching System, a Custom GPT acts as an interactive and automated journaling tool. It not only captures fleeting thoughts and ideas as they occur but also categorizes and analyzes them. This interaction transforms journaling from a simple record-keeping activity into a productive dialogue with one's own thoughts, enhancing mental clarity and fostering deeper self-awareness. The automation aspect further simplifies the process, making it more efficient by organizing thoughts into actionable insights without the manual effort traditionally associated with journaling.

How the System Works

Setup and Integration

The process begins with configuring a Custom GPT to act as your personal assistant for capturing and processing thoughts. Here's how I set up and integrated the system:

1. Create a Customize a GPT: The first step involves customizing a GPT specifically tailored to recognize and manage different types of entries such as thoughts, tasks, emotions, and more. The GPT, with its prompt, serves as the foundation of the thought-catching process. Below is my prompt for inspiration.

1. Creating 'My Mental Repo': I then set up a Google Sheet named 'My Mental Repo' as the central repository for all journal entries. This digital table stores each entry, organizing them by categories like date, type, and other personalized tags, ensuring they are easily accessible and well-organized.

1. Integration with Zapier: To automate the data flow, I connected the Custom GPT with 'My Mental Repo' using Zapier AI Actions. This setup automatically transfers entries from the chat interface to the Google Sheet. Each time I log a thought via the Custom GPT, Zapier ensures it is swiftly saved to 'My Mental Repo', categorized and formatted as per my preferences.?Here?is a straightforward tutorial on how to do it.

1. Reflection Sessions: A key component of my system is scheduling regular reflection sessions. I dedicate 30-60 minutes every day or every other day to review the latest entries in 'My Mental Repo'. These sessions are essential for deeper analysis and engagement with my thoughts, allowing me to learn new concepts, manage emotions, and gain insights into my thinking patterns. This regular practice enhances self-awareness and fosters ongoing personal development.

Key Features and User Experience

The Thought-Catching System is designed to seamlessly integrate into daily life, capturing thoughts and emotions in a way that feels natural and unobtrusive. Here’s an overview of the key features and how they enhance the user experience:

Entering Thoughts and Emotions

• Modes of Entry: I frequently use the system to enter thoughts and emotions via text, and mostly voice, especially during walks in the park. This flexibility allows for immediate recording of ideas or feelings as they occur, ensuring that nothing significant is missed.
• Types of Entries: The entries can vary widely, including:Random Thoughts: These might relate to work or personal reflections.Emotions: Using the?philosophical meditation method, I specifically focus on emotions like Anxiety, Anger, and Excitement.Creative Ideas: Future projects or creative bursts are recorded as soon as they come to mind - these are the rare butterflies.Tasks: Immediate or future tasks are noted for later action.Learning Concepts: Whenever a new concept catches my interest, I log it for further exploration - to be learned with another GPT, namely “My Personal Tutor”.Other Entries: Any other type of thought that doesn't neatly fit into the above categories.

Analysis and Output

After capturing the entries, the system processes them to provide structured feedback and actionable steps:

• Thought Summary: The system summarizes the essence of each entry, whether it's a task, an emotional reflection, an inquiry, or a creative idea. This summary helps in quickly recalling the context of the thought during reflection sessions.
• Category: It classifies each thought into a relevant category such as Emotion, Task, Learning Objective, or Philosophical Inquiry, among others. This categorization aids in organizing the entries within 'My Mental Repo'.
• Priority/Urgency: The system evaluates and marks the immediacy of the required action or reflection needed for each entry. This helps in prioritizing tasks and managing time effectively.
• Task Specification: Based on the nature of the input, the system suggests specific tasks:Emotions: If an entry is an emotional reflection, the task might be to discuss it in the next philosophical meditation session.Concepts to Learn: If it's a concept I want to explore, the task is to learn more about it with 'My Personal Tutor', a customized learning assistant I've set up.Conflicting Ideas: For entries involving conflicting ideas or beliefs, the task is to discuss them with CD-GPT, a Custom GPT designed to help address cognitive dissonance through dialectical methods.To-Do Items: For practical tasks, the system suggests adding them to a calendar. Currently, I manually adjust this integration as needed.

Reflection Sessions

Reflection sessions are a key part of this process, structured as follows:

• Scheduling 30 to 60 minutes daily or every other day for reviewing each entry for effective reflection and action.
• Converting tasks into actionable steps by scheduling them into a calendar (think of?Timeboxing)
• Emotions captured in the journal are explored further through guided philosophical meditation sessions. This helps me to better manage emotional responses and develop a more balanced mental state.
• Concept Exploration.

The aim of these sessions is not just to review thoughts but to connect them constructively to my personal goals and emotional health. This practice fosters a deeper understanding of my mind and behavior patterns, contributing significantly to personal growth and self-awareness.

Limitations:

Of course, the system's intelligence is powered by GPT-4. While this AI is still in its early stages, boasting expansive knowledge but somewhat limited capabilities, it is continuously evolving. Therefore, it's reasonable to expect occasional errors. Hence user confirmation before executing actions remains essential.

Another minor inconvenience involves needing to log into your Zapier account somewhat frequently—I've noticed this occurs almost every other day. However, this process takes less than a minute. I'm confident that these limitations will soon be a thing of the past.

Security and Privacy

Acknowledging the sensitive nature of data shared here with ChatGPT, I emphasize data privacy in my Thought-Catching System. I've discussed OpenAI's privacy policies in?my previous writings, highlighting the importance of de-identifying and anonymizing user data—a practice OpenAI claims to adhere to, diverging from big tech's data commoditization trends. I've noted the options for users to opt-out of data sharing, empowering them to control their information. This kind of collaboration between AI developers and users is vital to protect what Yuval Harari terms as 'hackable humans,' a concept I've explored to emphasize our proactive engagement with privacy settings as a stride towards an ethically-grounded AI future.

Benefits and Real-Life Applications

Personal Insight?Through the Thought-Catching System, I have experienced profound personal insights and improved management of work, creative and personal projects. For instance, while working on a complex project with multiple moving parts, I used the system to log thoughts and progress updates. Over time, reviewing these entries allowed me to identify patterns in my work habits that were causing bottlenecks. By restructuring my schedule based on these insights, I was able to enhance my productivity and reduce stress significantly.?

Mental Clarity and Organization?The structured reflection process within the Thought-Catching System offers substantial benefits in terms of mental clarity and organization. Imagine a scenario where you, swamped by unsorted ideas and pressing deadlines, begin to log each thought as it surfaces. During subsequent reflection sessions, the system assists in organizing these thoughts into categories such as actionable items, emotional reflections, and ideas to revisit later. This organization not only clears the mental fog but also prioritizes necessary actions, thereby alleviating stress and boosting productivity. Such practices are in line with cognitive-behavioral techniques, where externalizing and structuring thoughts contribute significantly to managing them effectively. This can be particularly beneficial in reducing feelings of anxiety or decision paralysis, helping you navigate complex challenges with greater ease.

The Potential

Looking ahead, I am excited about several possible enhancements to the Thought-Catching System that promise to streamline the process even further and integrate more seamlessly into daily activities. Key among these features are automating task scheduling and email drafting.

Automated Task Scheduling and Email Drafting: Automating these functions would dramatically improve efficiency. For instance, once a task is identified through the Thought-Catching System, it could automatically be scheduled in your calendar. Similarly, drafting emails based on your notes or reminders could be initiated by the system, requiring only your final review and send-off.

Deepening AI Integration: I strongly believe that AI, when applied correctly, can accelerate development in many areas, especially in enhancing the human condition—aiding in self-knowledge, self-organization, self-improvement, and eventually, self-actualization. Tools and autonomous agents, such as the great 'Open-Interpreter', are on their way to support these goals. Although these technologies are not fully there yet, the trajectory suggests that their impact will be significant and sooner than many anticipate.

Beyond Reflection Sessions:?You might wonder why I chose the name 'My Mental Repo' instead of 'My Mental Backlog.' When I envisioned this system, I considered what would happen after going through the entries in the Google Sheet? Is that all there is to it? Certainly not. Imagine leveraging all the data from your entries to analyze your thoughts and emotions, recognize patterns, track progress, and pinpoint areas for improvement. These are the next steps I plan to explore?(let me know if you are interested in discussing this further).

It’s Really Exciting

Imagine an AI assistant that not only understands your background, values, and goals but also integrates seamlessly with your daily tools like emails and calendars. This AI would act as a second brain, enhancing both your personal and professional life by organizing and implementing actions based on your needs.

I am excited about the potential of the Thought-Catching System to improve personal efficiency and growth. As technology evolves, it promises to transform digital tools into empowering personal assistants, potentially knowing us better than we know ourselves—a true game-changer.

Consider how integrating such a system could capture your fleeting genius, manage emotions, or streamline tasks. Envision technology not just as a tool but as an extension of our cognitive and emotional processes.

If you are intrigued by the possibilities and interested in further developing this technology, please?let me know. Let’s embrace these advancements together and explore how they can enhance our lives.