Most people spend hours chasing empty dopamine hits from social media, streaming, and shallow conversations. Anxiety ensues, and they wonder why they aren’t happy. Days slip away on distractions instead of building the life that brings actual joy. Sound like you? What if a few simple prompts could completely transform your daily experience?
Happiness requires intention. It’s a simple choice. Stop reacting and start choosing happy. Copy, paste and edit the square brackets in ChatGPT, and keep the same chat window open so the context carries through.
ChatGPT prompts to optimize for happiness instead of dopamine
Find what’s actually stressing you out
You carry subtle stressors that drain your energy every single day. The notifications that interrupt your focus. The commitments you never really wanted. The people who leave you feeling worse after every interaction. Remove these drains and watch your baseline happiness rise. Small stressors compound into major unhappiness over time. Get intentional about identifying them and cutting them out.
“Based on what you know about me through our conversations, what are the subtle habits or behaviors that might be causing me low-level stress every day? Look for patterns in my routines, digital habits, work style, and social interactions that could be quietly draining my energy. For each habit you identify, suggest a small, practical change I could make starting tomorrow. Ask for more detail if required.”
Examine your five closest influences
The five people you spend the most time with shape your mood, beliefs, and actions more than anything else. Some lift you up. Others keep you stuck. Your friendship group determines your ceiling in almost every area of life. The wrong influences keep you playing small and feeling bad about yourself. The right ones push you forward and celebrate your wins.
“Based on our previous conversations, help me analyze the five people who influence my mood and mindset the most. For each person, assess: 1) Whether they generally elevate or drain my energy, 2) Specific ways they impact my thinking and behavior, and 3) What boundaries or changes might improve our relationship. Then suggest a practical action plan for either strengthening positive influences or managing challenging ones. Encourage me to use voice mode.”
Let your calendar show your real values
Your calendar reveals the truth about what you actually value. Not what you say you value. Look at where your time really goes. The meetings you attend. The blocks you schedule. The people you make time for. We often claim to value family, health, or creativity but our calendars tell a different story. Make your time align with your true values.
“Analyze what my calendar reveals about my actual values and priorities. Based on our previous conversations, review how I spend my time and identify any misalignments between my stated values and my daily schedule. Then, suggest 3 specific calendar changes that would better reflect what matters most to me. What would a better version of me change? Include both additions (new blocks to create) and subtractions (things to eliminate or reduce): [Upload a screenshot of your calendar]
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Choose joy over speed
Speed kills happiness. Racing through your days means missing the moments that matter. Always thinking about what’s next instead of what’s now. But you can choose to operate differently. Joy comes from focus and attention, not from checking more boxes. Take back control of your brain with a proper assessment and plan.
“Create a powerful daily planning question that helps me choose joy over speed. The question should prompt me to reconsider how I approach my day, helping me prioritize meaningful experiences and satisfaction over just getting things done quickly. After providing the question, explain why it works psychologically and how it challenges my current patterns. Then, suggest 3 specific moments in my day when I should pause and ask myself this question for maximum impact.”
Break the phone addiction cycle
Your phone steals your happiness every morning. The moment you reach for it, your brain fills with other people’s priorities, and a huge hit of dopamine. Notifications. News. Social media. You start reacting instead of creating. Morning sets the tone for everything that follows. Protect this time and your entire day transforms. Give yourself space to think and feel before consuming.
“Based on what you know about me, if I stayed off my phone until 11am each day, what specific improvements might I experience in my mood, productivity, and overall happiness? Create a detailed picture of how my mornings could be different. Then provide 4 practical strategies to help me build and maintain this habit, including how to handle potential challenges like work expectations and the urge to check notifications.”
Turn your existence into something worth celebrating
Small changes to your inputs create massive shifts in your happiness. Find the stressors hiding in plain sight and examine the five people influencing you most. Let your calendar show what you really value and make the changes. Choose joy instead of speed and break your phone addiction cycle.
Happiness comes from intentional choices every single day. The prompts will point the way. The rest is up to you. Choose your inputs. Remove any reason not to be happy. Watch your life transform.
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