Build First, Edit Later — Let AI Be Your Draft Machine
If you try to write and revise at the same time, you’ll stall. Let AI get messy first.
One of the fastest ways to kill your creativity is trying to write and edit at the same time.
You start a sentence… pause… tweak it… delete it… try again… reread… check the tone… tweak again… and before you know it? You’ve written six words and lost all motivation.
Sound familiar?
ADHD brains often struggle with this because:
We tend to chase dopamine (and writing slowly = boring)
We forget what we were going to say halfway through a sentence
We want it to be perfect before we even know what “good enough” looks like
🛠️ Quick Fix: Use AI as a Draft Machine
Let ChatGPT handle the first messy, imperfect version — so you can focus on shaping, refining, and reacting.
Here’s the prompt I use when I catch myself overthinking:
“I need to create [insert thing — blog, email, caption, outline, etc.], but I keep stopping to edit as I go. Can you give me a rough, quick, no-pressure version that I can clean up later?”
Then I read it. React to it. Rewrite the parts I hate. Highlight what I love.
Suddenly, I’m no longer stuck. I’m engaged.
✍️ Example Use Cases:
Stuck on an Instagram caption?
“Write 3 casual options for a caption about [topic] — short, friendly, and not too polished.”
Can’t start a blog intro?
“Give me 2 different opening paragraphs on [idea] — one serious, one playful.”
Need to brainstorm product names?
“Give me 10 name ideas for a tool that helps ADHD folks use AI more effectively.”
Once you have raw material, you become the editor — not the overthinker.
🧠 Why It Works:
We don’t freeze because we lack ideas.
We freeze because we’re trying to make them good too early.
AI breaks that cycle by giving you something to sculpt — not something to stress over.
💬 Next time you find yourself stuck mid-sentence, stop and ask AI to take a messy first pass.
You’ll be amazed how quickly that friction disappears.
– Jody