This AI Experiment Changed My Life
How I Transformed My Personal Journal into an AI-Powered Mentor
Recently, I did an experiment with AI that showed me something fascinating: Just as athletes track their performance metrics and scientists log their experiments, artists and creatives can transform their personal writings into a powerful tool for creative growth.
In this issue, I'll show you how to turn your personal journal into a dataset, feed it to AI, and create a personal AI-powered mentor that helps you grow as a creative.
Let's begin.
I've got another confession to make
I do a TON of journaling. Been doing it for years and years, with piles and piles of notebooks everywhere. But I've also got this super long page on Notion that I call Daily Thoughts🔥. Yes, with a fire emoji next to it. LOL!
I've had this digital memoir since the Pandemic, and somehow I like it more than any notebooks I ever had. I can go through it anytime I want and search stuff. Also, I can write on it while I'm traveling or even in the middle of the night when something hits me and I don't want to leave bed.
Here's how I write in it: I don't force myself to write at a set time like 6 AM every day. Instead, whenever inspiration strikes, I have a fresh idea, or I'm feeling emotional, I jump in and write a quick paragraph—sometimes just a single line. It's perfect for capturing raw ideas and emotions. Some entries are actually hard to revisit because they're so raw. Here's a passage I recently read that surprised even me:
May 2022
"One of those tough moments. I feel I can't feel anything. Everything seems vague. My future is a hard path and a constant ping-pong between bills. What is the price of being independent?”
These raw reflections are the best material if you, like me, love exploring yourself. And now with AI we can go even further.
How AI Can Analyze Your Journal
AI excels at spotting patterns and making connections in big chunks of data that we humans might totally miss, especially when it comes to emotional self-reflection.
But what I want to show you goes beyond simple analysis: You can treat these journals as a dataset! By treating your journals as a rich dataset and creating a custom AI model trained specifically on your thoughts, you can build something much more powerful. Imagine! A digital mirror that understands you and engages in meaningful dialogue with you!
Think of it as having a conversation with your past self, but with the analytical power of AI. My personal dataset becomes a laboratory where I explore and understand the way I make artistic choices or mistakes. Imagine tracking your inspirations, uncovering connections between life events and your creative ideas, and understanding the pattern of your wildest dreams. Never before in human history have we had anything like this. It's eye-opening, scary, and at the same time transformative.
Mining Your Journal
The process is absolutely straightforward: I uploaded my journal entries and fed them into a customized GPT model that I trained to understand my writing style, emotional patterns, and creative process. Then I began asking questions that required analysis beyond my current state.
I'll show you the step-by-step process at the end of this article for those who want to try this experiment. But first, a quick note on privacy and security: If you're concerned about privacy, you must carefully evaluate which journal entries you're comfortable sharing. Only include content that you feel completely safe sharing with AI systems. I've been sharing my life with audiences through writing and self-portrait documentaries for years, so I'm used to being open with my experiences. But even I went through everything again to make sure I'm not revealing anything sensitive. Additionally, it's essential to use reliable paid services and make privacy your top priority. I'll cover these important points in detail later. Now, let's explore the benefits of this approach and how I use it.
The Experiment
Recently I felt totally stuck with my personal projects. Like, I couldn't move them forward in any meaningful way. It's ironic because I'm super dedicated to my professional responsibilities—I always try my hardest to deliver the best results like clockwork. But when it comes to my personal projects, those that I actually consider my creative fuel and testing ground, I get so doubtful and hesitant. I felt this heavy cloud hanging over me whenever I started something but couldn't finish it. Why? God, why? I struggled to understand. I blamed myself—called myself lazy, convinced myself I wasn't worthy of taking my work seriously. I literally tore myself apart! I'm sure many of you can relate.
That's when this idea hit me—what if I created a customized GPT with my memoir? After all, the answers are always within us. Maybe the answer was hiding somewhere in all those journal lines and I just couldn't see the connection. So I curated the data (my memoir spanning nearly five years), fed the machine, customized the GPT, and started asking questions.
At first, the results were disappointing. The AI responses felt only a little better than standard chatbot replies. But then I had this "aha" moment - maybe I was overthinking it. Instead of crafting complex queries, why not start with the basics? So I asked the simplest basic question: "What patterns keep showing up in my thoughts?"
The AI responded: "Fear of commitment to one path."
Bullshit! You don't know me. Just because you have access to some of my vulnerable thoughts doesn't mean you understand what's going on.
I had to pause and reflect. Deep down, I knew it was true. I wasn't able to commit to one path. Back in Iran, under a brutal religious dictatorship, I had to dance with censorship and risk everything just to create. So I became a shape-shifter: journalist, filmmaker, content strategist, creative director—switching roles whenever censorship threatened to silence me. When I finally escaped to LA with my family, that survival instinct kicked in again. I started editing because it paid the bills. Then I turned to becoming a creative producer when editing couldn't keep up with the bills. But the pandemic shattered that stability.
I pivoted to running my own remote studio and launched several successful projects. However, after suffering a concussion, I needed more structure in my work life. Managing everything alone had become overwhelming—I simply couldn't keep up with the demands of solo studio operations. That's when I transitioned into VR, a new field where I could tell stories in new forms. The job was stable but also forced me to grow in new ways. The pattern continued, one shift after another. This pattern persisted until almost a year ago.
Even though I'd finally found stable ground that perfectly leverages all my crazy diverse background, I still felt that huge creative block.
I turned to my GPT again. Here's a highly condensed version of our conversation:
Reza: "I had to change my paths. It was all about survival."
GPT: "But what happens when this protective instinct becomes your default mode?"
Reza: "Can you back up what you are saying?"
GPT: "April 2023: 'I feel close to building something beautiful and big but also I feel lost and paralyzed.'"
Reza: "Shit! Did I really write that?"
GPT: "You want to keep multiple doors open, but that keeps you stuck in indecision.
This gave me enough insight to keep reflecting. The next day, I finally connected the dots: Personal projects require a deeper sense of purpose. But I had only been practicing how to act out of necessity. What was once a necessary survival skill had become a limiting pattern. My superpower was actually my weakness. My ability to adapt quickly had become a creative roadblock, making me constantly lose focus and motivation whenever I sit down to work on my own personal projects.
I actually didn't need to "fix" myself. I needed to rewire this survival instinct into a conscious strategy. There's a story about Rainer Maria Rilke being advised to seek psychoanalysis by a friend. But Rilke famously declined: "I'm afraid that if my devils leave me, my angels will take flight as well." Yes! We need our demons and challenges. But understanding and working with them can lead to something powerful.
Final Thoughts
I want to be clear - this personal experiment is not a replacement for therapy or mentorship. An experienced and caring therapist or mentor brings invaluable perspective and guidance that AI simply cannot replicate. What I've found is that this experiment can be a helpful tool for self-reflection, but only when combined with your own careful judgment and intuition.
Looking back at my experience, I've learned that finding the right questions and iterations takes time. Trust me, I stumbled quite a bit before finally discovering those meaningful insights about my creative blocks. And in the end, it was I who pieced the puzzle together and made sense of my own story—not AI.
Keep in mind that you can adapt this journal analysis technique to fit your own needs. Maybe use them to shape quotes or Tweets from your daily writings. Maybe craft a distinct tone for your newsletter. Maybe extract character archetypes from your life experiences for your book or script, or create teaching materials based on your insights. The possibilities are endless.
That's all!
As promised, below you'll find the step-by-step process for creating a customized GPT with your journals. I use a Plus version of ChatGPT, but I'm sure you can replicate this with similar apps. If you enjoyed this issue, please forward this email to a friend who's suffering from being a creative. LOL
See you next week!
PS: Don't miss my previous post on "How to Play in 2025?" which got so much buzz! Many reached out, and I also got nice comments on LinkedIn.
A Simple Guide for Setting Up Your Custom GPT
Before we begin, here are some important things to keep in mind:
I'll be honest—even though I'm very open in sharing my life with others, I'm still careful about what I share with AI. Things close to my heart—details about my child, sensitive client information, personal financial matters—stay private. Take a moment to think about what feels right for you to share, and review your entries thoughtfully before using them with AI.
I highly recommend using a paid AI service for this work. Free versions often lack the sophisticated analysis capabilities you need, and more importantly, they may not offer the same level of data protection. Your journals deserve both deep analysis and strong privacy guards.
Let me show you how this works in practice. First, curate your content by gathering your journal entries—if they're in physical notebooks, scan them and convert them to PDF. I also created a second PDF file called my "Public Voice" collection, which combines all my "About" pages from websites and newsletters, along with some of my articles and social media posts. Take time to carefully curate your content. The more thoughtfully you prepare the data for AI, the better insights you'll receive.
Now it's time to feed AI. GPT Editor (you need a plus version for this) is a specialized tool that helps streamline and enhance interactions with ChatGPT. Here is the interface:
This editor allows you to create specialized versions of GPT with custom behaviors, knowledge (datasets), and capabilities.
Using the Editor is simple. First, upload your PDFs to the Knowledge section, then write instructions to shape your custom GPT's behavior, personality, and boundaries. Here's how to format your Instruction section effectively:
Opening Statement → Begin with a clear identity statement:
"You are [role/identity], designed to [main purpose]."
For example: "You are a Personal Assistant trained to analyze my personal journals and provide insights.
Next, tell your AI what you want it to do:
Identify recurring themes and patterns
Track emotional states and their triggers over time
Recognize critical thinking patterns
Highlight blind spots and potential breakthrough moments
Uncover connections between life events and creative breakthroughs
Also add these guidelines to keep the GPT focused:
Never:
Use excessive words or complicated language
Include unnecessary filler content or generic step-by-step instructions
Make assumptions—always ask for clarification when uncertain
This organized setup helps your AI assistant stay focused and reliable. There's also an Actions feature that lets ChatGPT connect with other apps and services, but you won't need that for this journal analysis experiment.
Once you've configured your customized GPT, give it a name and click Create. Here's a crucial step: make sure to set the visibility to "ONLY ME" to keep your journal analysis private and secure. Now you're ready to explore and experiment! Happy modern journaling! If you enjoyed this, please forward this email to a friend who's suffering from being a creative. LOL 🌟