Let AI plan your day!

If you’re a business owner with ADHD there’s a good chance your brain is buzzing with a million ideas and tasks competing for attention at any given moment. But executing on those ideas and crossing items off the to-do list? That’s where things get tricky.

I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve found myself down a social media rabbit hole, hyper-focused on some trivial task, or paralysed by indecision when it comes to prioritising and starting my day. It feels literally impossible to fit everything in – and my list rarely even includes the “want to do’s”. By the time the workday is over, it’s easy to be left feeling frustrated that I didn’t accomplish nearly as much as I’d hoped.

The importance of a plan for the ADHD brain

For those of us with ADHD, having some kind of structure and system for our day is crucial for actually getting things done. The ADHD brain craves novelty and struggles with task initiation, so starting a big important project can feel like pushing a boulder uphill.

We’re also really susceptible to distractions and tend to have poor time awareness. Five minutes can easily turn into an hour as we find ourselves opening an unintentional can of worms or getting side-tracked by something seemingly more exciting than the work we should be doing.

Trying to tackle an open-ended to-do list and a big chunk of unstructured time is a recipe for overwhelm and lack of productivity. That’s why having a concrete plan for how you’ll spend your day can be such a game-changer.

The challenge of making a plan

Of course, the problematic part is actually creating that plan in the first place. ADHD brains prefer to motivate towards more immediate rewards rather than long-term goals. Taking the time upfront to map out priorities and schedule the day requires delaying gratification—not exactly our strong suit.

Then there’s the constant barrage of new ideas and thoughts competing for attention. By the time tasks get listed out, we’ve potentially already been distracted by a dozen other shiny objects pulling us in different directions.

This is where AI assistants can be a real “day-changer” for the ADHD entrepreneur.

The AI assistant

I had heard of the task management and auto-scheduling tool Motion which is designed to help you keep on top of things even when your day doesn’t go to plan, but other than that I hadn’t given a lot of thought or attention to how AI can help with planning. After a few months of playing around with ChatGPT, last September I hopped onto a Focusmate session with Daniel in Costa Rica, who shared that he was experimenting with letting an AI tool plan his day for him.

Each day it would create a schedule for him for the following day and Daniel was on a mission to stick to that schedule as much as possible. If it told him to get up and exercise at 4am, that’s what he did – he seemed to be having a great time following the plan, however crazy it sounded. Our brief conversation piqued my curiosity about the tool he was using but I didn’t end up researching it further as I’d intended.

More recently the idea of AI planning assistance popped back into my head when I was trying to work out how I could possibly ever fit in everything I wanted to do in a typical day. It was hard to know if I was being unrealistic, or if I just needed more help planning. So, I opened up my ChatGPT tab and decided to give it a whirl.

How AI can help

In recent years, AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude and Google Gemini have become incredibly sophisticated at understanding and processing natural language. This means that rather than forcing our ADHD brains to structure and organise tasks, entrepreneurs can simply open up a conversation and explain any existing commitments along with a list of goals and priorities for the day.

The AI can understand the context, identify the key tasks, and create a prioritised schedule for how to allocate time and energy. You can offload that tedious planning work to the AI, freeing up your brain to focus on the more innovative, strategic or interesting aspects of running your business.

You can give Claude or ChatGPT a rundown of goals for the day and any hard deadlines. Then it can map out a schedule with time blocks for things like:

– Creative projects and deep work

– Administrative tasks

– Meetings and calls

– Strategic thinking and planning

– Movement/exercise breaks

Having that kind of tangible, pre-planned structure to follow can make it so much easier to stay on track and productive throughout the day. Even if you struggle with demand avoidance, it can be helpful to at least give it a try.

Top tips for AI planning

1. Be specific about time constraints and deadlines. The more context provided to the AI about what’s truly urgent, the better it can prioritise the schedule.

2. Build in buffers for transition times, breaks, and unexpected delays. ADHD tends to distort the sense of time, so padding the schedule prevents getting derailed.

3. Use the AI for weekly planning as well. Having a high-level plan for how the workweek will be spent can provide helpful top-down structure.

4. Ask the AI to send notifications or reminders to stay on track. Leverage the AI’s capabilities as an external prompt when needed.

5. Don’t be afraid to deviate if the brain needs a change of pace. The plan is there as a guiding framework, not a rigid set of rules.

TRY IT OUT:

Here’s an example prompt that that you can try to get an AI assistant like ChatGPT or Claude to help plan your day:

“I’m an entrepreneur with ADHD and I often struggle to plan and prioritise my days effectively. Can you please help me create a schedule for tomorrow based on the following information?

My goals for the day are:

Finish drafting new website copy (high priority)
Respond to emails and messages
Work on weekly blog post
1 hour client strategy call at 2pm
School pick up at 3:30pm

I’ll also need to take breaks for meals, movement, etc. I tend to work best with periods of focused work alternated with shorter bursts. And I have an appointment from 5-6pm that I can’t miss. Based on this, can you lay out a realistic hourly schedule for me that chunks my tasks into manageable time blocks? Make sure to build in buffer time for transitions and breaks. And feel free to rearrange/reprioritise things as you see fit based on your understanding of effective scheduling for ADHD.”

Thanks to AI assistants, running your ADHD brain through the gauntlet of meticulous day planning is no longer something you need to endure. Instead, you can hand off that tedious work to your AI sidekick, freeing up your creative energy for the work you really care about.

For me, having a structure in place that accounts for my goals but that I don’t have to craft myself, makes an incredible difference in my ability to fit in what’s important. This means I can spend my days more meaningfully — making progress on passion projects, building my business, and leaving ample room for fun and recharging – rather than mindlessly wasting large chunks of my most open-ended days.

If you’re an ADHD business owner consistently struggling with lack of time, focus, and following through on goals, I highly recommend exploring AI planning tools. Getting out of your own way and bringing in an assist from AI could be the key to finally unlocking consistent productivity and work satisfaction.

I’ll see you back here next week for another ADHD Biz tip!