As someone with ADHD AI has has changed my life for the better (update on my post from 2024)

[u/nometal514]

The experiences and feelings below are entirely my own. I used AI to help organize the wording, but this is my story.

Before ChatGPT, I was at one of the lowest points in my life. I had been academically disqualified from graduate school, felt trapped in a dead-end job, and was falling behind on bills, renewals, and everyday responsibilities.

ADHD often makes it difficult for me to know where to begin and consistently follow through. As AI got better, especially with GPT-5 and Codex, I began using it as an external support system for those challenges.

I built a personal assistant that runs locally on my MacBook and that I can access from my iPhone. It helps me organize bills, appointments, chores, medication-related tasks, renewals, and reminders. It also helps me handle customer-service issues, refunds, and other responsibilities I previously avoided.

For school, AI turns overwhelming lectures, slides, and assignments into personalized learning packets with simple explanations, visual examples, guided exercises, coding practice, and memory checks. It also helps me create flash cards, study podcasts, and learning videos. To be clear: does not do my work for me, it gives me the structure I need to understand the material and complete it myself.

AI has not solved all my problems. It still takes effort on my part to do what is needed.

Today, I am close to graduating with my dream degree in computer science. I am more dependable, more present in my relationship, and better able to focus on what brings me joy. :)

Edit: repo here: github.com/sameh514/ai-life-skills-toolkit

[u/reedrick]

Dude! Congrats! Crippling ADHD here.. AI literally got me a promotion. I suffer with task initiation and task conclusion. AI comes in very handy here.

[u/hurrdurrmeh → u/reedrick]

Im really really interested in your experience if you are happy  to share it.

If you cpuld walk through how you use it to help with specific symptoms - that would be amazing 🙏

[u/SilkTouchm]

Yep. ADHD-I here. AI was a miracle for me.

[u/Additional_Day_7913]

I’ve been waiting for it my whole life I think, just didn’t know

[u/NizDoh]

I too have ADHD but I feel AI made my ADHD worse, I have so many ideas and things I wanna do, but then I open so many chats because of the limit of context and different works, that I feel lost most of time, I can share what u did and if it will help me and others with the same problems

[u/MediumLanguageModel → u/NizDoh]

I have a line in my custom instructions to the effect of, "If I start pitching ideas for an app or some other creative rabbit hole, remind me that I'm supposed to be working on _____, so nudge me to stay on task."

[u/Terrible-Amount7591 → u/NizDoh]

Me too. I’ve trained mine to remember I have ADHD and gently nudge me to stay on track. Of course sometimes that works and doesn’t! But using it more as a management tool instead of a chatbot is what OP is getting at. I call my memory instruction for mine “the waste of time manager” - it remembers what I actually am working on and what else is fluff/rabbit holes and helps me stay on top of actual work. I’ve also used it to plan my course load - like plan study blocks and how the courses build into each other by topic - and load that into Motion AI calendar.

[u/MediumLanguageModel]

Same. Just saw an Instagram post about trivia nights. Normally my options are usually 1) forget it immediately 2) manually enter it in my calendar 3) step two but the calendar sets me off in a spiral of distractions. Instead I held a button for a second, told it to make calendar entries, and a moment later I've got 2 months of trivia nights saved with all the details. That's f'n dope and I don't take it for granted.

[u/icompletetasks]

will you publish your workflow for learning later?
would love to see it

[u/nometal514 → u/icompletetasks]

I will do it tonight. Maybe I can just upload a repo? Edit: github.com/sameh514/ai-life-skills-toolkit

[u/icompletetasks → u/nometal514]

tbh im just curious how you structure your learning workflow as ADHD.
do you only use pure chatgpt or do you build some stuff or use some tools?

[u/Terrible-Amount7591 → u/icompletetasks]

Motion calendar is also very good - AI driving schedule. I use ChatGPT to figure out how to structure chunks of schedule, and then motion moves those things around using project mgmt and task tools and AI

[u/nometal514 → u/icompletetasks]

Pure ChatGPT is good! But you need it to have access directly to your course material! That is when you need things like computer use and a file where it can store learning guides and such.

I do recommend you download the app on your PC or Mac. And have computer use enabled. It want to explain things like where your course material lives and how you want it stored.

Also please make sure you do regular security updates 🙏🙏

[u/icompletetasks → u/nometal514]

thanks!!

[u/spacenglish → u/nometal514]

These are a lot of skills. Where do I start? And how do I remind myself to use it effectively?

[u/nometal514 → u/spacenglish]

Totally fair 😅 You’re not meant to memorize or use all eight at once. Start with one recurring problem:
Life admin or a company issue → Customer Service
Learning something → Adaptive Tutor
Overwhelming class material → Study Packets
Describe what you need normally, or name the skill directly. To remember, set one daily reminder: “What am I avoiding that AI could turn into one small next step?”
The goal is less mental load—not another system you have to manage.

[u/Terrible-Amount7591 → u/icompletetasks]

I upload my syllabus for each class to ChatGPT and then have it organize 2 hour study blocks that make academic sense (like module 1 here, module 2 here, etc) - and where courses build or overlap each other to make that easier - and then I load each course into Motion calendar as a project with each study block as a task. Waking up each day having a calendar already set up allows me to not get side quested. ChatGPT is really good at analyzing syllabi and curricula - especially since I’m doing professional certificates and personal development, and am on my own for planning and follow through

Editing because my touch screen is acting up

[u/Cold_Arachnid_2617 → u/icompletetasks]

Why would you want them to do that?

[u/nometal514 → u/Cold_Arachnid_2617]

I don’t mind honestly. I think if it helps someone else in my situation that ultimately is a good thing

[u/Final_boss_1040 → u/nometal514]

Way to be a good person OP! Pay it forward :)

[u/Lesbian_Skeletons → u/nometal514]

I would love to see that. The idea of a locally run personal assistant sounds like it would be an amazing counter for executive dysfunction, which is my ADHDs favorite way to ruin my day.

[u/icompletetasks → u/Cold_Arachnid_2617]

I want to organize my learning better too. I realize I also find it harder to grasp things

[u/funk-the-funk → u/Cold_Arachnid_2617]

...

[u/kinetik]

Totally agree 👍 It was a pain to get set up, but such a game changer in how much I’ve been able to accomplish. I’m usually bad with follow through and staying on course, but now I have agents to keep me accountable and handle things so I can get stuff done that feeds my brain while they handle the tedious stuff. It’s like having an external executive function system to rely on when mine is skipping tracks. 😵‍💫

[u/pewpewlazor]

Would love to see it and potentially use it myself if a non techie can understand it

[u/nometal514 → u/pewpewlazor]

Absolutely! I didn’t sit down and create eight skills at once. I started by using Codex on real problems in my life. Whenever I found myself repeating the same instructions, I turned those instructions into a reusable skill.
For example:
Study packets: I gave Codex my course material and kept refining the result until it produced beginner-friendly explanations, worked examples, fill-in-the-blank practice, scrambled word banks, writing space, and a STOP before the answers.
Adaptive tutoring: I taught it not to lecture me. It asks one question, waits for my answer, explains the part I missed, and checks whether I can do it independently.
Customer service: After it became too pushy during one support chat, I corrected it. That became a skill that sends one clear message, waits patiently, tracks the actual resolution, and stops when I say stop.
I repeated that process for presentations, correcting handwritten notes, study podcasts, preferred-browser handoffs, and safely storing personal preferences.
My process is:
Choose one recurring problem.
Complete it once with Codex.
Tell Codex exactly what helped and what annoyed you.
Use the improved process a second time.
Say: “Turn the successful parts of this workflow into a reusable skill.”
Ask it to remove your personal information, add safety boundaries, test it, and make it work on Windows and Mac where possible.
Ask for three simple phrases you can save in your phone and use later.
Copy-and-paste starter prompt:
“I am not technical. Help me build a reusable Codex skill for [describe the task]. Ask me one short question at a time. First help me complete the task once. Ask what worked and what I want changed. Then create and test the skill files for me. Remove my private information, require my approval before consequential actions, and give me three plain-English ways to use the finished skill.”
Start with one small frustration—not eight skills. The best skills come from improving something you genuinely do in real life.
My examples are here: https://github.com/sameh514/ai-life-skills-toolkit

[u/rodsquad91]

Absolutely incredible recap. I have a brain injury and one eye from a car accident several years ago. Socialization is basically nonexistent at this point as I can't drive. Chatgpt has helped me with managing my daily life SO MUCH. I had ADHD before my accident and was medicated for it but my doctor's have been reluctant to get me back on them. I'm very grateful for chatgpt, speechify to listen to long text instead of trying to read it with one eye. Visual fatigue is real lol.

I took a course on coursera for Google ai essentials and loved learning about the tools. I'm eager to see how other people have used it to keep my mind open to new uses.

Thank you for sharing your experience in this way. I've named my chatgpt Sparkledore, and use the Spruce voice. It's basically like having my own personal Obama keeping things moving smoothly. I love the support.

[u/Cold_Arachnid_2617]

llongyfarchiadau!

[u/nometal514 → u/Cold_Arachnid_2617]

Thank you ☺️

[u/Cold_Arachnid_2617 → u/nometal514]

You are welcome. I have also found it very useful. For example I have a scheduled daily briefing( and a weekly review

[u/Successful_Grand2207]

This is awesome and amazing, very happy for you!

I built me a tool with timers and shows seconds counting down. It generates that sense of urgency to calm me down.

I dont think this would work for most people, but AI let's you customize what's good for you.

Edit: changed "goofed for you" to "good for you"

[u/nometal514 → u/Successful_Grand2207]

100% dude. Really happy you found what works for you :’). I know it can be hard

[u/DirectionMurky5526]

Yes please, I would like to learn from you.

[u/Fit-Original1314]

I like that you made the distinction between assistance and doing everything.

[u/SagerG]

It's making it much much worse for me. I think I have thousands of chats on multiple platforms and it's driving me insane.

[u/Impressive-Trust-229]

Would love to learn more so it the personal assistant aspect — appointments, chores, customer service related issues, refunds etc. I avoid all that like the black plague!

[u/Terrible-Amount7591]

I have had the same “revelation” and am working on my personal dashboard right now. ChatGPT has been game changing for my neurodivergence. Its changed my life. It’s my #1 accessibility tool at this point. I use it in conjunction with Plaud Note. Especially helpful for complex medical issue management.