Lucy opened up on air about feeling overwhelmed by the accumulating weight of everyday responsibilities. Three weeks into an illness, still battling a deep cough and unable to get to the gym, she described life as feeling perpetually ten minutes behind — always catching up, never quite arriving.

Her response was practical. She sat down with ChatGPT and built a two-week rotating schedule covering work, gym sessions, and short cleaning windows, planning to print it in colour and stick it on the fridge as a genuine commitment rather than a passing intention.

There is real psychology behind her instinct. Structured routines reduce decision fatigue, freeing mental energy for actually getting things done. Batching similar tasks limits the hidden cost of constant context-switching, and protecting the post-2pm window reflects honest self-knowledge — designing a schedule around how she actually functions, not how she thinks she should.

The risk with any schedule is rigidity. A plan with no room for the unpredictability of real life can become another source of anxiety. The most sustainable approach treats structure as a flexible framework — something to return to when things go sideways, not a standard to feel guilty about missing.

Does having a plan actually work? It does. Not because it controls life, but because it gives you somewhere to come back to when life briefly gets away from you.

Catch Lucy & Kel weekdays 6am–9am on 89.9 TheLight. If you missed this one, could listen back on the podcast: “I ASKED CHATGPT TO PLAN MY LIFE… AND IT DID”: Lucy’s AI Experiment, Kel’s Salty Questions & Casey’s Sour Ritual.