Getting frustrated is part of life. It often occurs when we want things to be one way and they turn out the other. When we're frustrated, we sometimes blame the people or objects around us but, a lot of times, it's not really their fault.
In reality, we frequently contribute to creating frustrating situations ourselves—by not being fully prepared, failing to anticipate predictable outcomes, or having unrealistic expectations.
When dealing with inanimate objects, it's easy to understand that blaming the particular thing we're mad at is not logical, but the line gets blurred with AI because it feels so real.
Writing code can be particularly stressful. The availability of ChatGPT may push developers to take on projects that are beyond their current skill level further contributing to that stress.
Given that, there are a few things we should keep in mind when working with AI to help make life easier and stop us from getting BIG MAD when ChatGPT doesn't do what we want.
How to Make ChatGPT Work for You
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Use Custom Instructions to make sure ChatGPT understands your preferences. For example, I included that I mainly develop on Nuxt, use the
script setupsyntax and prefer Tailwind CSS. - Provide excerpts from documentation in order to guide ChatGPT to the best possible solution.
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Break code up into smaller components and ask ChatGPT to include
console.logstatements for easier debugging. - Use a specialized GPT. See Ruby Mignot's Code Architect for Nuxt, for example.
Other Strategies for Learning to Stay Cool
- Listen to Thich Nhat Hanh's talk Loneliness and the Illusion of Connection. Mindfulness is important. This talk, in particular, addresses the issues that arise from the prevalence of technology in our daily lives.
- Don't be a perfectionist. Ask yourself if the approach you're taking is necessary and consider opting for a more simplistic solution.
- Be nice to your future AI overlord. Remind yourself ChatGPT and AI will remember how you treat them in these early stages. 🙃
These are just a few approaches I've come up with to address any frustration I might encounter in my daily work—learning to deal with it yourself in a healthy manner will increase your productivity, decrease stress and ultimately help you find solutions more quickly.
I thought it important to write this post because of all the articles that have been posted over the past year ChatGPT getting angry at humans or demonstrating misaligned behavior. While this might indeed occur, I have a suspicion that the opposite is far more common.
So, what are your techniques for keeping a cool head when you find yourself getting Big Mad at ChatGPT?
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