How this simple TikTok trend transformed my approach to creating freedom.

If you’re a personal development enthusiast like me, you’ve probably seen the “day in the life” TikTok trend. If not, here’s the gist: you type ‘Tell me a story of a day in the life of my future self based on this description:’ into ChatGPT before describing all of your goals and aspirations in detail. The result is pretty mind blowing.

I took the exercise a step further by asking ChatGPT for a 7-day schedule. My second prompt was ‘Give me 7 days in the life of my future self, as per the above description. I want to paint a picture of what it’ll look like, Monday through Sunday.’ It was like cocaine for my future-oriented, visionary brain! The story was so vivid and immersive—I really saw and felt what it was like to live that life 🤯.

But it didn’t stop there. My third prompt was ‘Explain how I can reverse-engineer this life to the present day, making sure that I set myself up for success.’ ChatGPT broke my goals down into actionable steps, differentiating between each aspect of my future vision and the actions I could take in the present day to achieve them more readily. Its recommendations were extremely tangible and easy to follow—I was impressed!

However… I soon realized my third prompt wasn’t optimal. I hadn’t told ChatGPT how much progress I’ve already made in cultivating my dream lifestyle. This oversight ended up being a blessing in disguise. Reading through the action plan as if I were right at the beginning of my entrepreneurial journey gave me an incredible insight. Before I get into that, let me share some of the components of my AI-generated life plan so that you have sufficient context.

Here are the overarching categories of my plan, all of which centre around creating more freedom in my life—whether it’s financial, time-related, or emotional:

What struck me was that in certain areas of my life, I’m already actively working towards my future goals. But in others, I’d been telling myself “I’ll have that in the future” instead of taking present-day action. The fact that ChatGPT was smart enough to not only make the distinction between the future and the present, but also to merge the two together and recognize that it’s about becoming the person who has these things, made a strong impression on me.

For example, I’ve been developing my brand and building an audience for many years now, as well as investing in personal development and wellness, living in alignment with my vision, and scaling my coaching business. My work-life balance has come a long way, and I’ve been defining my goals in more tangible ways (e.g., I only work with 10 V.I.P.s per year now). But I hadn’t realized I was holding many of my other goals at arm’s length, and that got me thinking about freedom and you guys.

After probing ChatGPT more on how to make my goals measurable, as well as how to know which to prioritize now versus further down the line, the ‘freedom’ theme began to emerge even more prominently. While it was easier to comprehend the financial investment side of things (i.e., balancing present-day investments with future pay-offs), the idea that I must practice having and experiencing freedom came as an unexpected pivot in my thinking. I realized I’d been feeling guilty about certain short-term pleasures, like spending winters in California and summers in the UK and/or Toronto. But ChatGPT showed me that these actions are essential now because they’re normalizing my accomplishments and helping me form good habits that will last a lifetime.

Think about it: someone who has always been ‘a snowbird’ plans their life around their winter travel. They have friends in their warmer location. They have preferred property or car rental companies. The expenses are already budgeted into their year. They know the best time to book their flights. And yet, this doesn’t necessarily mean they own property in both locations—they could be renting or vacationing. In other words, you can ‘test out’ your ideal lifestyle in the interim, while still working towards creating a more life-long foundation for your future self. This is exactly what I’ve been doing! So, rather than feeling like I’m spending money too liberally and telling myself I ‘shouldn’t’ enjoy the fruits of my labour yet, I now realize I’m doing what’s necessary to normalize being ‘a snowbird’ and carving out a path for future me to make more permanent decisions in this regard, like buying property or spending more of winter away (currently, it averages at around 2 months per winter).

By choosing to spend winters in California, I’m actively practicing the freedom I envision for my future self.

This brings me to the more neglected areas of my AI-generated plan. The area that ‘hit me’ the most was with respect to work-life balance. I’ve been prioritizing having a better work-life balance for years—especially in 2024. But, similar to my snowbirding example, it’s been accompanied by a lot of guilt. Any time I saw other aspects of my life suffer as a result of me prioritizing my health and mental wellbeing, like revenue dropping or losing touch with friends, I’d feel bad about working less and my guilt would attempt to turn things around and reverse my progress.

Thankfully, I’ve had great support and encouragement and have been incorporating habits of recognizing my success in this area on a regular (at least daily) basis. Despite that, the guilt has still been raging. This ‘day in the life’ exercise helped me see that practicing having a better work-life balance now is absolutely essential for having one in the future. Therefore, there’s no need to feel guilty because my actions totally align with my future goals 🤯.

Prioritizing work-life balance is my way of claiming the freedom to live life on my own terms—an important habit to form.

It’s so true. When we learn to establish boundaries around our work to protect our energy; when we practice saying ‘no’ to requests or opportunities that aren’t aligned with our needs or desires; when we make choices that reinforce balance, like going to sleep earlier and setting aside time for hobbies, medical appointments, and exercise, we are taking steps towards achieving our dream lifestyle in the future. Isn’t that WILD?!

If you’re not feeling it yet, do the ‘day in the life’ exercise using your own aspirations in the prompt and you’ll see what I mean right away! When you ask ChatGPT to reverse engineer your future life to help you work towards it now, you’ll either:

Or maybe, like me, you’ve been doing a lot of the ‘right’ things but it’s been laden with guilt, making everything feel like an uphill climb instead of a walk in the park.

Whatever your ideal future and current landscape looks like, this is your chance to get into alignment with your future self and make your dream become a reality, one day at a time! You don’t have to wait to start test driving your future life, today.

Freedom isn’t something you wait for; it’s something you create through consistent, intentional action.

If you’re ready to design your own freedom-focused lifestyle that fits with your freelance medical writing business, discover how The ‘Thriving & Free’ Medical Writer Program™ can support your journey.