Every morning I wake up to a wall of notifications on my phone. Slacks, emails, texts, projects I was supposed to finish yesterday. And my first thought is always the same: what do I do first?

That is the mental load of being a working mom. Not the doing, the deciding. Figuring out what needs me now and what can wait until later. Over the past few weeks, ChatGPT has taken a real chunk of that off my plate, and the thing that did it is their new feature called dots.

Here is exactly how dots now owns and manages my to-do list.

1. Turn on dots and set up your avatar

Dots is the new feature that lives under New chat in ChatGPT. Open it and set up your avatar, that is your dot.

The way to think about it: a dot is like a manager for your entire ChatGPT. It is always on. It oversees everything, it aggregates every task that has been done or not done yet, and unlike a normal chat, it does not forget the job when the conversation ends. It keeps the goal, the memory, and your connected apps between sessions, and it messages you when it actually needs your judgment.

New chat Projects dots NEW Library Set up your dot name your dot tap the mic and tell it about your life
Under New chat, there is dots. Set up the avatar, then do the whole setup out loud.

Once the avatar exists, turn on the microphone and just give it context. Do not type, ramble. What are your goals? What are your priorities? What tools do you use? How do you think about what is important and what can wait? That last one matters most, because triage is the whole job you are handing over.

Here's my life: my work, my kids, my projects. These are my top priorities right now, and this is how I decide what's urgent versus what can wait. When you manage my tasks, use my rules, not yours. Ask me the questions you need to triage like I would.

2. Connect the apps you actually use

Second, make sure every app you use on a regular basis is connected. This is what turns dots from a smart chat into a manager. Your email, your calendar, your Slack, the places tasks actually come from.

Remember: a dot can only aggregate what it can see. Every unconnected app is a pile of tasks it does not know you have.

3. Build the to-do system

Third, go back into the microphone and tell your dot how the to-do list works. This is my exact prompt, word for word:

I want you to build a to-do list for me where you're doing the upkeep. Every day, you're scanning all my apps. You're trying to see all the tasks I need to take care of. If there is an event, you're just going to add it to my calendar without me asking. You're going to put any preparation that I need for that event into my to-do list. As I get things done, you're going to check off the to-do list.

Read that again, because the magic is in the division of labor. It does the upkeep. It does the daily scan. It adds events without being asked. It checks things off as they get done. The only part left for you is the doing.

Today scanned 7:02 am added to your calendar: field trip drop-off, friday 8:15. prep is on the list below. send the signed contract back from email done 9:40 am, checked off for you reply to Dana before the 2pm call from slack needs you today buy the white shirt for spirit day from texts can wait until tomorrow
What it looks like once the dot is doing the upkeep: tasks pulled from every app, triaged by my rules, checked off as life happens.

4. The extra info: what plans dots is on

The part everyone asks, so here it is plainly. Dots launched September 29, 2026 at OpenAI's DevDay, and as I am writing this it is rolling out to ChatGPT Pro and Business Premium subscribers in eligible markets. Two notes inside that:

  • Regular Plus does not have it yet. If you are on Plus and cannot find dots under New chat, that is why, not something you did wrong.
  • Region matters for Pro. The Pro rollout currently excludes the EEA, Switzerland, and the UK. Business Premium gets dots in all supported ChatGPT regions.

Rollouts shift fast, so check the dots page inside ChatGPT for the current state. One more thing worth knowing once you are in: your dot has an activity area showing what it is doing, what is scheduled, and what is finished, and recurring jobs live under the Scheduled tab in the dot's profile. That is where my daily scan lives.

What to notice

  • The to-do list was never the hard part. The triage was. Teach it your rules for urgent versus can-wait and the mental load actually moves.
  • Say it, don't type it. Every setup step here is the microphone and rambling. Detail beats polish.
  • Connected apps are the whole game. The dot manages what it can see.
  • It does the upkeep. Scanning, adding, checking off. You just do the things.
The wall of notifications is still there every morning. The difference is somebody already sorted it before I woke up.

Go try it and see if it takes any of the load off. And if your mornings need more than a to-do list, this pairs with the email command center I built: same idea, aimed at the inbox instead of the task list.