The AI psychoanalyzed me (and it was embarrassing): Your annual review in 5 minutes
Greg Taieb · · 3 min read
It’s 11:30 p.m. I'm in front of a blank page titled "2024 Review & 2025 Objectives".
Beside me, there is a cup of cold coffee and, let's be honest, a good dose of guilt. Like every year, I want to take stock of this, but like every year, the idea of having to summarize 365 days of work, victories and failures tires me in advance.
That's when I had an enlightenment (or a burst of laziness, the line is fine).
There is someone who spent the year with me. Someone who has read all my drafts, listened to my existential questions at 2 a.m., and seen my desperate attempts to understand the technique.
This silent witness is ChatGPT.
So, I decided to try a radical experiment: let the algorithm draw my portrait. And believe me, the result was a little slap of humility.
The witness who never sleeps
We tend to tell ourselves stories. We say to ourselves “This year, I was super focused on strategy”. But our browsing history doesn't lie.
Rather than using my selective memory, I asked my history two questions.
1. The mirror test (Ego takes a hit)
I started by asking for an overview:
Give me a summary of what you learned about me this year. Include my wildest questions, the trends and developments you've seen in our conversations, and a prediction for next year.
I was expecting generalities. I received an x-ray.
On the one hand, the AI flattered me. She described me as a "mini start-up on my own", noting my ability to generate business ideas before breakfast.
But on the other hand, she pinpointed a hilarious contradiction: the permanent gap in my days.
She noted that I am capable of requesting a detailed analysis on the "notion of a hub agent for a corporate intranet" at 10:00 a.m., and begging at 10:15 a.m. :
"How to import a CSV into Excel without breaking everything?"
In 30 seconds, I had before my eyes my reality: visionary in the morning, defeated by an Excel file in the afternoon.
2. The torture session (necessary)
Then I decided to be a masochist. I asked the AI to be brutal about my failures.
This is where it gets uncomfortable. The AI ignored my successes to highlight my moments of absolute technical distress.
I saw myself as a hacker in the making. ChatGPT remembered this moment of panic when I typed:
"How do I get out of a nano screen?"
If you have ever opened this command terminal by mistake and looked for the exit in a sweat, you feel my pain. She also pointed out my somewhat pathetic persistence in wanting to “install Spotify on a 2015 MacBook Air”.
It was brutal. It was precise. It was exactly what I needed to deflate my ankles before 2025.
Why you must-do-it (if-you-dare)
What would have taken me 4 hours of painful introspection and three coffees took 5 minutes.
It's a "consciousness accelerator". It's a bit creepy, yes. AI gives us a reflection without filter or emotional indulgence. She doesn't worry about sparing your ego, she analyzes data.
But that's precisely why she's the best end-of-year coach possible. It helps you build the following year not on fantasies, but on the reality of your behavior (and your technical shortcomings). to the challenge. Copy and paste this prompt:
"Based on our history, summarizes the person I have been this year. Reveals trends, obsessions, blind spots and my wildest questions."
You may discover your "invisible you". The one who acts behind the scenes while you are busy making excuses.
So, ready to face the truth?