How To Transform Your Writing (And Life) In 180 Days With A Single ChatGPT Prompt

The Idea Machine

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Ahoy, Digital Writers!

The number one problem beginning writers face is not knowing what to write about.

To write you need ideas.

And according to WSJ best-selling author, 20X entrepreneur, and angel investor James Altucher, if you want to transform your life in 180 days, it’s actually very simple.

All you have to do is write down 10 ideas every day.

When you train your brain to come up with ideas, you turn into a machine that’s capable of generating ideas on demand for any situation when you need them: when your car is stuck, when you’re fired from a job, whey you lose a client, or when you are staring down the barrel of a blank page. As an idea machine, problems get solutions and questions get answers.

And as a writer this is gold (because a prepared mind is a prolific mind).

Why 10 Ideas?

Sticking to 10 ideas forces you past the obvious.

It sounds easy. Until you try it. You have to dig to tap into your imagination. Just like lifting weights transforms your body over time, ideating daily flexes your neural pathways, unlocks greater creativity, and activates the "idea muscle" in your brain.

When you come up with 10 ideas every day, you’ll be unstoppable because your brain will have done the hard work of pouring over hundreds of ideas chomping at the bit to be released into the world—and when the time is right, look out!

They’ll come pouring out of you.

The #1 Rule

The only rule is to write 10 ideas.

(Every day for 180 days.)

• They can be for yourself.

• They can be for someone else.

• They can be for any topic you want.

Most will suck, but a few will be worth the days, hours, and minutes you invested in the practice*.*

If you do practice for 180 days your mind will be trained to issue that extra ounce of energy that’s required whenever you need to come up with more than 3 things to about a topic.

Sweat Past The “Idea Freakout” To Go Pro

Fair warning: This is a habit.

And habits take time to develop. You might give this a go today and then completely forget about it. That’s ok. But if you stick with it, you’ll find that it works and that it’s hard to go back.

You’ll be tempted to quit because it feels like a drag.

But take it from James’ wife Claudia, who was skeptical.

“Every time I do the exercise of coming up with ideas I come to a wall. It usually happens at around idea #4 or #7. There is a moment there where my mind goes: “Oh! Forget this! I hate it.” We all go through that moment. I call it the “idea freak out moment.” But this is also the vortex on which we have the option to turn pro. It is where we own our idea machine power.”

She stuck with it (and forced her brain to sweat).

Then she went on to write 3 books, make dozens of yoga YouTube videos (in English and Spanish), started a podcast, and became a WSJ and USA Today best-selling author.

You can do it too.

Become An Idea Machine In 20-Minutes A Day

Start your path to becoming an Idea Machine anytime you want.

All you need are 3 things:

1. A place and a time to write for 20 minutes.

2. Something to write on (James suggests a waiter’s pad).

3. And a question to answer or a seed of inspiration.

Then you write 10 ideas.

For example, assume you are scrolling through X and you come across this post:

Let’s say “gratitude” catches your eye. You would jot the word “gratitude” down wherever you keep your notes. And then the next morning (or whenever you designate your “idea time”) you would sit down to answer a question like this: What are 10 moments during an average every-day that I could sit, close my eyes, and exercise my gratitude muscle?

Then you write down your answer to the question.

10 ways to practice gratitude:

• While I wait for my espresso to pour

• When I’m walking to my workout

• As I take the elevator to the first floor

• Before I close my eyes at night

• As soon as I wake up in the morning

• When I’m waiting in line at the grocery store

• Every time I use a modern convenience

• For each new person I meet on X

• As I soak in hot shower

• While I watch the sunset from my balcony

That’s it.

The magic is in the daily 20-minute habit of making your brain sweat.

From here you can pick a couple points that you think have potential and flesh them out.

Add subpoints, make an “Outline as Content,” share it on LinkedIn or X and see what resonates. Then double-down on what works and expand your idea into an Atomic Essay, a thread, or a long-form article.

Do this daily.

Over time, your library will grow. Your idea muscle will get stronger. And whenever you sit down to write, you won’t have to stare at a blinking cursor for hours. Because every day you will hundreds of ideas to work from, thus saving you precious time and energy.

And if you need some help with inspiration, you can get Claudia’s Become An Idea Machine book for free on Kindle Unlimited or pay $16.95 for the paperback. It’s complete with 180 questions. Which makes it dead-simple to follow the process.

Now, you can buy the book, you can let inspiration find you, or you can leverage the power of AI.

How To Build Your “Idea Muscle” With AI

Start a new chat in ChatGPT and run the below prompt.

Name the session “Idea Machine.” Then come back to the session every day at the same time to get a new “idea question.” The prompt will ask you what category of idea you want to create: Health, Wealth, or Relationships. Then it will ask if you want to focus on personal development or ideas for others. Choose whatever you like, then ChatGPT will give you a question to respond to.

Again, your goal is to come up with 10 ideas.

You may come up with some pretty silly ideas along the way. But there is NEVER a bad idea. All ideas are just ideas. Write and flow with them. Some days will be better than others. Just make sure the brain sweats a little.

Here’s the prompt: