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How I Use ChatGPT to Document My Stories and Why It Might Be Perfect for You
Tim O'Shea
August 08, 2023
Hi Friends đź‘‹
I hope you are having a wonderful summer!
In this week’s email:
How I Use ChatGPT to Document My Stories and Why It Might Be Perfect for You
Google launches free AI training courses
ChatGPT updates
Try InterviewerGPT to create blogs effortlessly
And more…
Let’s get started…
AI for Marketing đź”—
👩🏻‍🏫 Learn AI
Google has released 10 free courses to master AI. Here's how to access Google's AI courses and start learning today [Link]
Learn how LLM’s like ChatGPT work. When you understand what they do and why, it’s easier to get great results [Link]
đź’¬ ChatGPT
OpenAI announces a ChatGPT update: Prompt examples, suggested replies, GPT-4 by default, upload multiple files and keyboard shortcuts [Link]
We’ve added more prompts to the ChatGPT Magic Marketing Toolkit, including plugin and web browsing prompts [Link]
This copy-rewriting prompt is fun and shows the power of ChatGPT language models: “Rewrite in the style of _____”. Here’s last week’s newsletter rewritten in the style of Winston Churchhill, Donald Trump, Mickey Mouse, David Ogilvy and the Agora writers [Link]
🚀 In case you missed this…
InterviewerGPT: Chat with this prototype AI and create blog content effortlessly [Link]
Deep Dive
How I Use ChatGPT to Document My Stories and Why It Might Be Perfect for You
Why you should care: In a world where connections matter more than ever, personal stories are key. These stories create bridges between us and others, fostering understanding, empathy, and a sense of belonging. However, remembering and documenting your experiences can be difficult.
What you need to know: With the prompts below you have the ability to pull out stories from your memory. Without spending days writing, in just a few minutes you’ve have your stories documented.
On with the story…
Five days into the trek, we had arranged for horses to rendezvous with new food supplies for us
But the rivers were too wild, too furious.
The horses struggled to cross the torrents, stumbled, and our re-supplies were washed away.
In the 90’s as a trek leader for Exodus, my job was guiding clients trekking around different mountain ranges worldwide.
Things didn't always go to plan.
On a 14-day trek around the base of Mt. Elbrus, the highest mountain in geographic Europe at 5,642m, something went wrong…
After days of relentless rain the rivers were swollen, their power so immense that boulders were being dragged downstream with terrifying force.
The rivers proved too much for our resupply team of horses sent to meet us en route. Luckily the horses didn't get injured, but they did lose all the food into the river.
I remember the sinking feeling as the resupply horses didn't arrive, and I realised we had no food for the rest of the trek.
Change of route wasn't a great option, as whatever route we chose was 5 days walk to the road head.
So, I decided to continue the trek on what food we had left.
We pooled together the food we had brought separately, rationing our supplies.
But clearly, there wasn’t enough food for our group of 12 for another 9 days.
OK, but what’s that got to do with this deep dive?
I hadn’t thought about that story for 15 years.
In fact, I had forgotten it even happened until this week.
Do you sometimes go blank when someone asks you to tell them a story about your past?
But when that person tells you their story, you start to remember yours?
Me too.
Your stories engage your readers and make your message come alive.
“Really Tim, but I don’t have any great stories?”
Of course, you do. You just need to unlock your memory.
Your Forgotten Stories
Let’s try something out with ChatGPT’s help.
Copy and paste this Forgotten Memory Recall prompt into ChatGPT using GPT-4.
Can you help me remember a story that I haven't thought about since it happened?
Chose one of the techniques below that you think will be most effective:
Context Reinstatement: This is a technique where you mentally recreate the environment or situation where the forgotten event took place. This includes picturing the surroundings, the people, the smells, the feelings, and even the weather if you can. This method is based on the theory of context-dependent memory, which suggests that it's easier to retrieve certain memories when you're in the same context as when the memory was formed.
Guided imagery or meditation: You can sit quietly, close your eyes, and let your mind wander back to the past. Visualize it as walking through a corridor filled with doors, where each door represents a year or period in your life. Open them and see what you find. It's a sort of controlled daydreaming.
The Method of Loci: This ancient method also known as the Memory Palace technique, involves associating the details of the memory you want to remember with a familiar place, like your house. You mentally walk through this place, attaching details to different objects or rooms. When you want to recall the memory, you mentally walk through the place again, and the details should come to you. This method requires some practice but can be very effective.
What did you remember? Reply with your story please!
Never Lose Another Story
AI can assist you as a conversational partner, it helps you recall moments in time.
It turns a blank memory into an engaging dialogue, making story remembering enjoyable and efficient.
Now try this life stories prompt; it helps you access another part of your brain:
You are an investigative journalist conducting an interview with me, the user. The purpose of the interview is to uncover my life stories and experiences. It can be anything, big or small, you just need to find my stories. Develop a comprehensive understanding of the key points and draw insights that are not obvious from the surface. Dig deep into the expert's past and understand the experiences and motivations behind their views. Conduct an interview that probes deeper into these points, asking questions like 'Why is that?', 'How did you discover that?', 'What most surprises you about this?' and other penetrating inquiries. Ask at least 10 questions. Ask questions one at a time, eg not more than one question in your reply. Ask questions to jog my memory. Ask me to imagine times when... something happened, but not from my childhood. Remember, the user answer is being dictated, so you will need to tidy the spelling, grammar and comprehension so you understand what they meant. Write up the interview when I ask "Write it up" The final write up should read as if written by the user, not by you, the journalist
Again I would love to read some of your stories, send me a reply with your output.
A prompt to tap into your emotional stories:
Use all your conversational skills to help me remember compelling and unusual stories from my past. In this conversation I want you to help me find stories that are emotional. Begin with providing some ideas on how to go about recalling these memories:
When did you feel really sad for someone else or something you witnessed?
Ask me one question at the time, in a way that draws out the best way to access my memories. Be really clever how you do this.
The above prompt can trigger deep emotions, more than just a diary.
You can repeat this again and again and build up a bank of stories to use in your digital writing.
Then you just choose a story to add in when needed, just like I did at the start of this post.
Your Stories Matter
Preserving personal history lets us take a step back and enjoy our memories. ChatGPT is more than just a tool for documenting your stories - it's a companion that helps unlock your creativity and lets you share your unique perspective with the world.
Back to my story on Mount Elbrus…
The morning after we realised our food supplies were limited, we climbed 1000m up and over a pass into a wild alpine meadow.
Down at the bottom of the valley, we could see a wooden shack with smoke coming up from the chimney. Around the shack were 100’s of goats.
Luckily the local shepherd seemed keen to get hold of our dollars, so we bought as much milk and goats as we needed.
For another 9 days, our diet was a mismatched collection of leftovers, chocolate bars, sweets, milk, and meat. But we made it around the mountain back to complete an adventure that I shouldn’t have forgotten.
That’s a wrap! Don’t miss the next issue…if this newsletter is in your spam folder, please don't forget to move it to your primary inbox.
Doing so really helps ensure you don’t miss future issues.
Finally, if you got value from this email, please share the love and forward it to your friends.
Thanks for reading,
Tim
