Chances are that you are not using Artificial Intelligence to it’s fullest potential.

Because this day and age, people are using it to replace human thought instead of using it to unlock new levels of intelligence.

So in this article I’m going to show you a different way of using AI that you’ve probably never considered before.

And if you read to the end you’ll have a completely new perspective on exactly how much more focused you can become, if you leverage the power of AI strategically.

This is part one of a full two-part guide that I’m giving away for free. Part I will cover my rationale and my process for building the tool, and Part II will cover how I actually use it to 10x my focus and brain power.

We live in an age where “Hawk-Tuah” and similar types of short-form content dominate our attention. So I’m offering this as a long-format alternative for people who want to be more deliberate about the content they consume.

In this article, I am giving you a full end to end guide on how I used AI to attack my ADHD head on and 10x my brain power. And most importantly I’ll show you how you can do the same.

Grab a pen and paper. Follow closely. Take notes. Copy me.

Before I cover the AI part, I want to start off with a bit of context setting so you fully understand my process. I’ll walk you through my thought process that led me to creating an AI solution, and then I’ll pivot into my process for building the actual tool.

I’ve always struggled with ADHD, especially as an adult.

We can debate whether ADHD is real or not, but what I do think we can all agree on is that modern life is making it incredibly difficult for literally everyone to focus.

I think a lot of people out there have suspected that they might have ADHD, or have noticed that they can’t stay on task quite as well as they wish.

People are struggling to be consistent with their eating and fitness.

People are struggling to follow through on their own promises and commitments.

If this is you, then keep reading.

It doesn’t matter who you are. You have a human brain that is trying to do the impossible by navigating a modern world that’s wholly out of synch with how the brain operates.

Your cognitive hardware is outdated and so the symptoms you are experiencing is a sort of short-circuiting of your brain, because it is not equipped to process the speed, complexity, and magnitude of information that is our current reality.

Just over the past 200 years we wrote letters and used carrier pigeons to communicate.

Boredom was pervasive, and access to hyper-stimulating entertainment was scarce.

Personal networks were significantly smaller because they largely hinged on face-to-face interaction.

Friendships and relationships were deep and personal.

Information was slower. It could take days or weeks for news about what’s happening in other parts of the world to reach you, if it reached you at all.

And when it did, it was probably through a newspaper.

To get anywhere, you would have walked, or used a horse, or maybe a train or a boat.

Life moved more slowly. It moved at what I call “the pace of nature.”

Thus our brains back then were far better situated to process the world around us.

Everything is excessive. Everything is fast.

Rather than sitting down and taking the time to intentionally write letters or interact face-to-face, we communicate through digital platforms that devalue presence.

This has normalized broken and strung-out conversations that lack all forms of nuance or natural flow.

We accumulate “friends” and various connections through social media making it possible to have a network of thousands. This leads to increased quantity but diminished quality of human connection.

Entertainment options are basically infinite.

Between the endless scrolling on social media, the instant access to streaming TV, food delivery, etc. there is no limit to the amount of cheap dopamine we have access to.

Now virtually everyone is struggling with uncontrollable addictions of some sort: Gambling, phones, social media, online shopping, adult entertainment, food, sugar, drugs & alcohol, and excessive comfort, to name a few.

For most people, because the consequences are not immediately evident, it never registers that these addictions are responsible for many of the common societal ills.

The data is clear…

In short, we have less control over our minds than we think we do. Our ability to delay gratification, our ability to stay on task, our ability to be fully present have all been significantly diminished by the forces of modern society.

I recognized this in myself a while ago. I realized that most problems in life are the result of a hyper-stimulating world. Too many flavors, instant access, unlimited convenience, and far too many signals that cause the human brain to malfunction.

As an adult with an ADHD brain, I personally found myself all over the place.

I couldn’t focus on anything difficult for any amount of time. I always found myself feeling mentally exhausted, anxious, scattered, and outright lost in life.

So I wanted to find a solution.

That search eventually led me to turn to AI to help me think clearly, stay focused, and make better decisions over time. This was the beginning of what would eventually become CerebriX, which is essentially a 2nd brain to help people who struggle with focus, discipline, and follow-through.

Over the years, I’ve developed an affinity for different self-help options but they never really worked.

Books, podcasts, masterminds… I found them useful to a degree, but I always felt like there was a missing link.

In theory these things were helpful, but when it came to practical application, I could never really incorporate what I learned into my own life.

I could read atomic habits 1000 times. I might pick up a couple of tidbits here and there, but that’s not going to fundamentally change the way my brain handled that information.

In fact, I found that consuming an abundance of self-help content became sort of an addiction for me.

With every book, every YouTube video, every podcast, I received a hit of cheap dopamine that gave me the satisfaction of success despite me not actually doing anything.

And even worse, is the analysis paralysis that comes with consuming all kinds of different ideas from other people that may or may not actually apply to my own life.

Thus, I needed to find a solution that would not be static. One that would adapt to my specific needs.

In the same way people with poor hearing might use a hearing aide, or how people with bad eyesight use corrective lenses to see clearly, people who struggle with being focused and thinking clearly could use a cognitive equivalent.

Essentially, what if I could create a “corrective lens” for my brain?

What if I can create a tool that helps me filter through all of the distractions of modern society, by helping my scattered brain to be more focused.

So that’s what I decided to do, and the more I explored this idea, the more I realized that there’s an opportunity to use AI in a way that boosts brain performance.

But isn’t AI turning people lazy?

Just like any other tool man has crated, AI is a tool that can be used for our development or to our detriment.

A classic example is how automobile influences most people to live very sedentary lifestyles while also enabling a smaller minority of very intentional people to access more hiking trails, more running paths, more opportunities to be even more active.

Technology can be a damper or an amplifier. For most it is a damper. For those who use it intentionally, it is an amplifier.

In my view, AI is influencing most people to be cognitively sedentary. People are letting AI to do the thinking for them.

But we also have an opportunity for AI to help us be MORE cognitively active, and access previously untapped levels of thinking and intelligence.

I call this “Integrated Intelligence” which is the combination of human introspection compounded with efficiency of AI.

So I concluded, that using AI creatively presents a massive opportunity for people like myself with ADHD, and I would build my own solution for more clear and focused mental processes.

I was behind the curve with understanding, or even using AI. It’s not my area of expertise by any stretch.

I feel like we’re in this new age where AI is out there, we use it haphazardly, but we haven’t fully unlocked its power especially when it comes to shifting the way we think.

A while back I read Amusing Ourselves to Death, by Neil Postman, and the one thing I remember from this book was this idea of “the medium is the message.”

As technology evolves, the way that information is disseminated also evolves.

Oral Tradition —> Writing/Newspapers —> Radio —> TV —> Internet/Social Media —> AI

But unfortunately, recent technology evolutions have significantly increased the quantity of information we receive while also diminishing the quality of the information.

And THIS I believe is a core reason why ADHD, focus, inability to delay gratification, and silent addictions are so pervasive today.

But I also realized that AI marks a turning point. It marks the first time in human history that we have the ability to fully customize the information we receive.

Meaning, the medium is no longer the message. Now the medium enables whatever message we instruct it to give us.

And this is where building a custom AI solution came into play.

I barely knew of any commercial products beyond Chat GPT, and I thought the only way to use Chat GPT was to ask it questions, or give it instructions, and do whatever I will with the response it provides.

But as I began exploring different use cases, I came across the notion of Custom GPTs where people were creating tools that perform highly specific functions… like a GPT to help create social media content, or to come up with fitness programs.

That’s when the idea clicked.

What if I build a custom GPT for myself? But not just any GPT.

What if I could create something so multi-dimensional, that it could literally act like a genuine extension of MY brain?

I’ve been blogging and writing a newsletter for years about health, fitness, focus, discipline, and all of the philosophies that I’ve been wanting to embody.

So I was already sitting on a massive bank of information that basically summarizes all of the books I’ve read, different thoughts I’ve had, and mental models that I try to follow.

Since I want a tool that acts as an extension of MY brain, it only made sense that I would use my hundreds of publications as a knowledge foundation for any AI tool that I build.

You should do the same for yours.

Your Action:

Create your custom AI solution. In my case, I used Chat GPT but other platforms also have customization options.

If you have any content that you’ve produced that lays out your philosophy on life, your ideal living situation, or anything else.. then you should make that the foundation of your custom AI.

If you don’t have anything, then I suggest you take some time to create a manifesto.

Lay out your position on life, on the world… and spell out (in no uncertain terms) your moral principles, what you value, your non-negotiables, and your call to action.

While I truly believe in the cognitive exercise of writing out your thoughts, you can shortcut this process by using a voice transcription software, speaking out your ideas, and letting it synthesize your thoughts for you.

Either way, doing this is a time investment that’ll pay major dividends in the long run.

Because you’ve now documented your internal ideas. You’ve made them more real by creating something that exists in the material world.

Then you’re going to feed your manifesto, or any other publications you’ve created into your custom AI as reference information.

The previous step solved the “information quality” problem by providing a philosophical foundation. Next I needed to solve the quantity problem.

A classic issue for people with hyperactive brains is an an abundance of ideas and thoughts to the point of brain paralysis.

How do I stop my brain from being overwhelmed by the abundance of information out there?

One of the most valuable things I learned in my experience studying and working in engineering was to break complex problems down into simple, and understandable information.

So I applied this same principle to create a repeatable process for organizing rambling thoughts, confusion, and information overload into structured and digestible information that I can quickly put to use.

To do this, I provided instructions to my AI tool to process all information like an engineer.

I literally gave it the exact same frameworks that I used back in the day for organizing information.

I also added a new dimension of usability by turning information organization into workflows, coaching, decision-making functions that propel my understanding of nuanced topics into the stratosphere.

Your Action:

Add your specific instructions to inform your GPT.

Come up with some sort of framework for interpreting your manifesto (and other inputs) and then presenting information to you in a way that makes things very easy to understand.

You can search online for “deep focus frameworks for people with ADHD (or really for any problem you’re trying to solve)”, and then use the frameworks to compel your custom AI to go extremely deep into any relevant topic.

If you already have a specific methodology for solving really big problems, this is your time to supercharge your brain by rolling your knowledge and thought processes into AI.

The catch is that you have to be VERY detailed with the frameworks that you provide it if you want it to work properly.

I didn’t want to just use my custom AI like a fancy version of Chat GPT. That defeats the purpose. I wanted to use it for the very specific case of locking in for short periods of time to achieve transformational life breakthroughs.

I use it intentionally as part of a larger strategy to out societal noise and distraction so I have the mental space and focus to be relentlessly consistent.

To do this, I created a corresponding 60-day protocol that I follow. This turns my AI tool into a core component of a larger system for deep focus, consistent action, and follow-through.

I turned AI into a personal mindset coach that works in tandem with, daily journals, worksheets, and performance trackers to provide clarity and perspective that I otherwise would have missed.

This combination of AI and other tools working in partnership with conscious human awareness is what I call integrated intelligence.

I genuinely believe that it will be the only way to successfully navigate the world moving forward as it becomes even more complex and hyper-stimulating.

Your Action:

Figure out exactly what you will use it for, and integrate your AI tool into a broader system.

You must create some kind of process that leverages the power of AI to unlock new levels of clarity, understanding, and focus.

So take the time to create a step-by-step process (or find a process that someone else created), and integrate your AI into that process.

For example….

If you struggle with staying consistent with your fitness, then you should create a system that trains your brain to become more consistent with diet and workouts. Use your custom-designed AI to build diet, training schedules, and motivational content that kills all resistance.

If you struggle with self-destructive habits, create a system for breaking habits and building new ones. Then use your custom-built AI to identify behavioral patterns, and provide tactical advice on triggering neuroplasticity for new habit formation.

My desire to crush my ADHD and find a winning strategy for unlocking deep focus is how I ultimately created CerebriX (formerly known as Cerebrum-X).

I built it for myself, but after a while I realized that other people could seriously benefit. So I made it publicly available.

Here’s what some users have said:

You can absolutely use this same process to create your own custom GPT for deep focus if you’re willing to invest the time and effort. But for most people, CerebriX is the better option because it’s already built.

And if you’re subscribed to this newsletter, chances are that we’re aligned philosophically, so my hundreds of publications, and frameworks that I used to build my custom AI will be equally as useful for you.

Just plug and play.

You can download CerebriX here.

First few takers can use this code for a limited discount: INTEL

Now that you know how to build a fully customized AI solution to help you cut distractions, structure your thinking, and stay super focused, next you need to know how to actually use it to it’s maximum potential.

Building it is one thing. Using it for maximum effect is a completely different animal.

We’ll cover that in Part II.