ChatGPT can be a valuable, time-saving, insight-generating tool to help you achieve your goals. I use this technology for DIY projects (both software and physical), to fill in the blanks of my knowledge, proofreading and writing help, and creating content for niche areas of interest.

DIY Projects (software and physical)

ChatGPT can walk you through a project — it can help you build a WordPress website when you don’t know where to start. It can help you develop a Google script to automate tasks in Google Workspace — do you want to have a button on your toolbar that you can press and automatically convert all of your google documents into PDFs? You can do that. It can help you fix errors in your code if you’re learning to code. AND that beautiful piece of furniture that you want to repaint and fix up even though you’ve never done that before? You can do that!

I give it the details of my project, what I want to accomplish, where I’m at, the tools at my disposal, etc. I ask ChatGPT to walk me through the process step-by-step and not to move on until I’ve completed the previous step.

Say YES to projects, you will be able to learn things and complete things you never thought you could complete due to this assistant you have — as you go through the project, you can ask questions and get information that lets you ask better questions. As you become more informed, you get better answers and get to the root of the problem — it’s like a positive spiral.

~Recently, I used ChatGPT to help me create a daily planner that helped me time-block from 5 AM to 11 PM, in military time — exactly what I wanted but couldn’t find at the store. Using ChatGPT helps me build daily, weekly, and monthly planners tailored to my needs, uniquely mine, without much prior knowledge and saving me from going to the store and buying a pre-made tool that wasn’t quite right.

Fill-in-the-Blanks of My Knowledge

Our prompts provide boundaries and direction for the information that will be most useful for the LLM to give us. I like to write prompts that will fill in the gaps in my information. I write down my thought process, what I know about the situation or topic in question, and then I ask ChatGPT to generate 10–20 questions: “based off of this information, what might I not be considering and/or what are some areas I should explore further?” After doing this, I have a better understanding of where I’m at, what the gaps in my knowledge are, and what I might need to dive deeper into.

I asked ChatGPT to fill in the blanks in my knowledge when creating a one-day itinerary for Portland and a two-day itinerary for Seattle. Initially, I asked ChatGPT for recommendations for both places based off of my interests — popular must-see places, running trails, fun destinations, and unique activities — as well as a budget of $50 per day (not including food). Then I cross-checked it with internet sources such as Reddit forums and TripAdvisor and wrote up an itinerary combining the recommendations from all of these sources.

I put in my rough itinerary and asked ChatGPT to ask me 10 questions based off of this information that I should ask/consider that I might not have asked. Some of the quetsions included:

• Are there free or low-cost guided tours available in either city?
• What are the best places to people-watch or relax while soaking in the local vibe?
• What do locals recommend doing that’s off the beaten path?

These might be questions that I forget to ask or think about when planning and appreciate the chance to consider. After I made adjustments, I had a plan for the trip that felt reliable and somewhat organized. Putting this together took between 25–35 minutes — I felt excited about the trip.

Proofreading and Writing Help

One of the most common ways I use ChatGPT is for checking grammar and spelling. I also use it for writing assistance — turning unstructured ideas into well-formatted emails, documents, and texts. It’s excellent at restructuring information you provide, creating first drafts for business documents, and producing project artifacts, saving you time creating them from scratch.

You can request feedback on aspects like language consistency, terminology, tone, word choice, and active/passive voice. It can be a great tool for analyzing your writing patterns. It can help you if you’re interested in improving your overall writing ability.

Niche Areas of Interest

Two things that I’m interested in currently are Sex and the City and learning Russian and Spanish. ChatGPT helped by combining these interests and created specific language learning content — unique dialogues with the Sex and the City characters.

“Sex and the City” Dialogue Practice

Charaters:

Кэрри (Carrie): Reflective and witty.

Саманта (Samantha): Flirty and playful.

Миранда (Miranda): Practical and straightforward.

Шарлотта (Charlotte): Optimistic and eager.

Scene: At a Coffee Shop

• Кэрри: Девочки, как вы изучаете русский? Я смотрю сериалы. (Girls, how are you learning Russian? I watch TV shows.)
• Миранда: Я слушаю подкасты. Очень полезно. (I listen to podcasts. Very useful.)
• Шарлотта: Я использую приложение. Смотри, я уже знаю двадцать слов! (I use an app. Look, I already know twenty words!)
• Саманта: А я пошла в бар и практиковала с симпатичным парнем. (And I went to a bar and practiced with a cute guy.)

I thought the content that it provided was incredibly cute, and it made my day.

Inspiration from Others Online~

While searching the web how others people utalize this tool, I came across some inspiring ideas:

• Translating American measurement recipes to metric measurements for international use
• Engaging in D&D planning and using GPT as a Dungeon Master for creative role-playing experiences
• Recommending obscure or international music based on the user’s favorite artists or genres
• Creating bedtime stories for your child based on what they did during the day

What about you? Have you used ChatGPT to tackle creative or practical challenges? Has it been helpful for you in your life? I’d love to hear your experiences and ideas! Please feel free to share a comment about how ChatGPT has provided unexpected value. I would love to connect and explore new possibilities together!