How to get coaching from an LLM
It is incredible that all of us now have a very intelligent coach that we can text message at any moment of the day with any question at all.
Here I outline theories of coaching so we know what we are doing when we try to get help from an LLM.
Coaching usually has some goal, like improving psychological well-being, develop some skill, finding career success et.c.
And there’s some theory of change, specifically how interaction with the coach will help with that change in the coachee to achieve the goal.
For example, the coach can:
Question your beliefs to help you formulate what you really believe (as in Socratic questioning)
- Useful prompt to ChatGPT o3: “
. Go one question at a time and write curtly.”
- Useful prompt to ChatGPT o3: “
Challenge you just beyond your ability (as in sports coaching, tutoring)
- E.g. describe your ability/past experience in some task you want to improve at and ask the LLM to propose a task/project/course of action that is just beyond your ability
Help you practice a certain way of thinking or being (as in roleplaying, CBT, breathing/yoga)
- I find roleplaying to be a helpful way to practice for important and uncertain conversations. You can give the chat agent personas or approaches that the other party might take. Roleplaying can be done to expose yourself to the feeling of being in that position where the conversation goes in a difficult direction, or it can be done as a way to practice a general approach to certain situations that arise often but you want to change how you deal with them - e.g. practicing your thought patterns when something feels difficult/impossible (hint: growth mindset).
Listen and give you space for self discovery - (of meaning- Logotherapy, of important past experiences, Freudian psychotherapy), or reflect and be empathetic and help you assemble an interpretation or story
- Write paragraphs about all the thoughts buzzing in your head and often the summary that the chat agent provides can be helpful, or just getting it out there can be helpful.
Provide you with knowledge that you don’t have (as in sports coaching, tutoring)
- This is probably how we most naturally use the chat agent.
Be careful about your personal data. I hope that we will be able to have very good chat agents that run privately soon.