Since its emergence in November 2022, ChatGPT has sparked both excitement and concerns. Whether you love or hate it, the revolutionary AI application can transform people's lives by significantly improving our productivity. We will examine six use cases. Each comes with example ChatGPT prompts and downloadable iOS shortcuts.

Copy Editing was expensive before ChatGPT. The price for a few hundred words can range from tens to hundreds of dollars (approximately $0.02 to $0.2 per word). Even a yearly Grammarly subscription costs up to $150! ChatGPT provides an affordable solution for copy editing. We can use it for wordsmithing, grammar checking, and rewriting. The outcomes are very impressive. To get the best result, we can create a dedicated chat named "Channel-Copy Editing." and training ChatGPT  to understand the desired writing style. The chat channel can then be used for future editing demands. 

Learning Assistance means using ChatGPT for learning. We can ask ChatGPT to create book reviews and recommendations or find relevant information. It can also be an excellent tutor helping with our studies, homework, and even teaching like a teacher.

Personal assistants can help with various tasks, such as organizing our schedule, making travel arrangements, giving fitness and nutrition advice, recommending cooking recipes, setting reminders, assisting with decision-making, or offering financial guidance. ChatGPT can also act like a life coach, offering advice and prompting self-reflection for personal growth and mental well-being.

Role Play refers to asking ChatGPT to role-play a person with a particular personality and social background. This practice allows us to practice communication skills in various social scenarios, including mock interviews. 

Coding with ChatGPT can assist with coding and programming challenges. It is now very handy for creating code in JavaScript, Python, and Excel.

Creating Content Creating Content lets ChatGPT generate creative ideas, brainstorm sessions, and offer suggestions for different writing projects. ChatGPT can generate Content for various purposes like articles, blog posts, social media captions, product descriptions, etc.

As we continue to explore its capabilities, we can discover more ways to leverage ChatGPT to enhance our daily lives and achieve our goals. However, despite its power, ChatGPT also has limitations. Because it's built upon a large language model (LLM), a text-based machine learning (transformer neural network) algorithm, ChatGPT needs more real-world understanding, especially models like math or map. It also has difficulty differentiating irrelevant information in the prompt. The limitation of the training data can also cause biased answers and wrong results. Therefore, it remains a tool for now. We have to make our judgments on the quality of the responses. 

Shortcuts help improve our productivity. The following are the top 20 shortcuts for MacBook users: 

1. Command + Space turns on the spotlight search, which helps find anything on the MacBook. We can also use the window to do simple calculations like using a calculator. 
2. Option + Close After we open many images in the Preview application, we can close all of them by clicking on the Close with the Option key. 
3. Command-Option-Shift-V is different from Command+V because it pastes the Text without the format. 
4. Command+i Opens the files info dialog to check the file created and modified time and update to which application should be used to open the file (and the type of files with select the Change All option). 
5. Command+Control+Shirt+4 takes screenshots of selected areas to Clipboard. Command+Shirt+4 takes screenshots of the chosen location and saves them as a file to a specified folder. Command+Shift+5 open screenshot/recording options with location selected. 
6. Command+Control+Space opens the Emoji window where we can search and add Emojis. 

Settings are necessary to keep the computer delivering the proper function. The following are the top settings: 

1. In the Finder | View menu, choose Show Path Bar and Show Status Bar. Those two bars give useful folder hierarchy and details while navigating the files system. 
2. In the Keyboard Preferences | Text, add text replacement for frequently used text input such as emails and popular emojis. For example, I put sukeeteatime.com as ".st," so I don't have to type the full address later. 

Morning routine refers to what we do the first or two hours after waking up. Morning means these are the first things we do in the morning. Routine means we take these actions every day so that they can have an impact on our life. A routinized morning is more productive when we are more focused. 

Many people have advised this topic, from Benjamin Franklin's famous morning routine to the 20/20/20 formula introduced in the 5 AM Club. I like to share my understanding of the morning routine and how I apply the principles to create my own.​

How to Setup an Effective Morning Routine 
Overall, an effective morning routine has to take care of health, get ready for the day, and involve something important to our life.

• ​Taking care of our health requires us to bring positive energy. That can be a sweating exercise for fitness, a healthy drink to stay hydrated, or a savory breakfast that satisfies our indulgence in taste. 
• Getting ready for the day means mentally clearing our minds knowing what's important, what to do, why we do them, and how to stay focused to achieve our goals in the coming day. 
• Working on something that matters to us suggests we use the morning time on something important. It requires an extended commitment to getting it done, such as creating a new blog, writing a book, or developing a skill requiring years of perseverance. Because we have the most control and minimum disruptions in the morning, we are more likely to get these things done when they are part of our morning routine.  

We need to start the work night before. Going to bed early so that we get up early. Waking up barely to make it to the office won't have time to do anything. We would also write down a list of to-dos before going to bed. This is because decision-making is energy-draining; we have to save energy to take action in the morning. 

My Morning Routine 
The Morning Routine that Works for me tkes quite some time to establish. The following is what I do right now. 

• Before going to sleep around 11:00 PM, I will populate the to-do list with everything I need to do the next day, highlighting what I plan to do in the morning. 
• Wake up at the most comfortable time when we can have almost 2 hours of free time. Me, I start at 5:50 AM. 
• Spend 20min on health. I go through the hygiene routine and perform exercises, such as walking, running, or jumping rope, that can make me sweat. 
• Take 20min for self-reflection when enjoying a cup of tea. 
• From 6:30 AM -8:00 AM, I will spend 1.5 hours on the morning task. Right now, I'd like to learn something new and share it within my blog. 
• From 8:00 AM - 8:30 AM, I will connect with the family at the breakfast table.

What do you like to do in the morning? We can do anything we want. It's our freedom to choose. We can start with something simple. Remember, "Perfectionism is a disease." We have 30K mornings to spend in our life. No matter how many have left, I hope you will enjoy all of them, starting with the next one after you read this blog. 

What is our ideal shopping list? It has to be a list from our meal plan, where we picked our saved receipts and added them to our weekly schedule. Then, we should have automatically created a list of shopping items, considering only things not available at home. During shopping time during the weekend, we can have shortened list after items are picked up. ​ We can create this in Notion easily. 

After we get the first shopping list, let's look at the problem from another angle: What about we have a lot of veggies and meat in the fridge? Can any of our favorite recipes be made, or can we cook with a minimum purchase? The preceding YouTube video shows how this can be automated. 

Productivity is about getting the most out of time. Achieving productivity relies on a plan of what to do and how to complete the work. We find some practical principles. 

Start with prioritization. It's a waste of time if we spend our time on unimportant things, which taking time away from what matters the most. We all have limited time. Therefore, we have to learn to make a choice. 

Remain focused. Again, we have limited energy and resources. Laser focus on the present task ensures productivity and can enjoy more during the process. The result is often the best we can get, which is good enough. 

Keep things simple. There are millions of ways to get things done. Avoid over-planning. A simple list of to-dos and a calendar to block time should be sufficient. Overly ordering, analyzing, and documenting wouldn't help with the results. 

Stay Organized. It's easier to organize when we have a bigger picture and give everything a dedicated home. Organizing involves grouping tasks, scheduling time on the calendar, completing things in order,  and decluttering anything that can cause distractions, such as the desk, the email inbox, and our wandering mind.

End with reflections. Look back to find where to improve. Reflection triggers the cycle of acceleration. ​​​

Of course, being aware of time and immersing ourselves in the present is essential. ​

Taking notes is like taking a breath. In our learning system, note-taking brings fresh air, pumps information into our knowledge system, and makes the information an integral part of us. A sound note system can create a knowledge system that we can rely on to extend our memory and form our thinking foundation. Some call it a second brain.


Taking notes starts with self-discipline and perseverance to note down ideas and information from books, web browsing, podcasts, youtube videos, or other sources. Then, it needs a process to organize the notes. The best note-taking system is the Zettelkasten Method, which starts with capturing ideas in a fleet note followed by paraphrasing the fleet notes into literature notes and a reference note. We then create permanent notes in our own words. The smart note-taking process drives a natural learning procedure to understand, digest, connect the dots, and generate new insights. 


We need to have a sense of purpose to take the right notes. Again, this is a productivity issue. We have limited time, so we must stay laser-focused on reading and taking notes on one or just a few things we value the most. ​


Last, we need suitable tools to keep notes. There are several must-haves in these tools:

1. Easy access from anywhere, like our phones, pads, and computers.
2. Reliable to store and back up the content.
3. Quick search to pull up information when needed.
4. Comprehensive to build knowledge structure.

My note-taking system combines Apple Notes, EverNote, Notion, Quip, and a Blog. Apple Notes for the to-do list, EverNote for personal notes, Quip for content collaboration, Notion for the Zettelkasten-based knowledge system, and a Blog for sharing permanent notes. ​ In comparing the notes-taking applications blog, I elaborated on the details.