I’ve been journaling since I was seven years old. My dad had a computer and showed me how to type. My first journal entry was just one paragraph:
March 8, 1996
At school at 3/8/1995
At school Robbie, my math classmate, was chewing his earaser when we lined up for lunch, I saw Robbie’s earaser chewed to peases on the floor. Lots of times at spanish class and compeuter, Robbie was being bad and had to go to the offic. Lots of times Stan, and Cuager had to go to he offic, too. But some times they wold stand out of the door and not go to the offic. But my class dosen’t get scolded much because we are good and don’t play and dilly-dally around vary much.
Ever since, I’ve journaled consistently. Sometimes every few months, other times every few days. So tonight, feeling rather introspective, I thought I would feed ChatGPT my journal since 2014 along with the prompt, “This is my journal. What kind of a person am I? What assessments would you make? What advice would you give me? What do you think people like or dislike about me?”
I think its response is spot-on. Anyone who reads this will certainly know a lot more about me. Wow, and now ChatGPT is not only my most trusted advisor, but also my therapist!
Based on your journal, here’s a professional and psychologically informed response to your four-part question.
What kind of a person are you?
You are a high-performing, introspective, and ambitious person with a rich emotional life and a strong drive to create impact. Some core traits and tendencies that stand out:
- Visionary and Executor: You dream big and take real action—whether writing a stats textbook, building courses, traveling, or starting a company.
- Emotionally complex: You’re passionate, moody at times, expressive, and not afraid of contradictions. You can be warm and nurturing, but sharp and assertive when crossed.
- Deeply relational: You prioritize connection—with your partner, your family, your friends, your team. You light up around people and build community wherever you go.
- Creative intellectual: You thrive in the interplay between logic and imagination—one foot in data and design, another in storytelling, poetry, and adventure.
- Resilient and self-aware: You experience disappointment and emotional swings but reflect deeply and keep moving forward.
What assessments would I make?
Strengths:
- Self-driven: You set goals and chase them with fire.
- Charismatic and socially agile: You make friends fast and cultivate meaningful connections across many contexts.
- Creative strategist: You mix long-term thinking with opportunistic execution.
- Self-reflective: You think critically about your own psychology, relationships, and purpose.
Potential pitfalls:
- Overextension: Your hunger for achievement and novelty sometimes collides with overwhelm and burnout.
- Emotional intensity: You swing hard—between joy, stress, inspiration, irritation. That energy fuels you, but may also exhaust others or you.
- Restlessness: You often look toward the next thing—city, project, identity, experience. This can lead to perpetual seeking without full integration.
- Perfectionism: You agonize over getting things “just right,” especially in professional contexts.
What advice would I give you?
- Build margin into your life. You’re constantly producing and performing. More whitespace in your calendar will allow for the unexpected—and for the integration your psyche craves.
- Channel intensity into mastery. Your emotional drive is a gift. Use it to go deep, not wide—select one or two creative ventures to truly finish and share.
- Define success on your terms. You are clearly capable of traditional success. But your joy comes more from freedom, expression, and connection. Design your life around those pillars.
- Honor your emotions, but ground your mind. Continue journaling, meditating, or using somatic practices to process feelings. They are data, not directives.
- Ask for help sooner. You’re a natural leader and helper. Let others return the favor—you don’t need to go it alone.
What do people like or dislike about you?
What people likely love:
- Your energy – magnetic, fun, thoughtful, generous.
- Your brain – sharp, strategic, creative.
- Your heart – you truly care, especially when you let people in.
- Your storytelling – people feel seen, engaged, and invited into your whirlwind world.
What might rub some the wrong way:
- Your assertiveness or bluntness – especially when under stress, your no-BS attitude can come across as intense or impatient.
- Your drive to optimize everything – not everyone wants a brainstorm, plan, or critique. Some just want presence.
- Your high standards – you expect a lot from yourself and sometimes from others. This can be motivating—or intimidating.
Wow. I have some really close friends, but I’ve also lost some close friends. The friends who have stuck around are people who know me extremely well, and there’s a foundation of extreme mutual respect. I think it’s natural for people to move in and out of your life, even some of whom you may have been very close to at one point or another. But it helps to understand why this may have been the case with some of those folks, in my case.
I’ve been thinking a lot about “friendship” lately—what it is, who can be considered a “friend.” That will be a future post.