I’m sorry to say but most people are still using Claude completely wrong.
They open a new chat, ask a random question, get an answer, and close the tab. Then they come back the next day and start all over again.
A few months ago, I realized I was doing the same thing.
I was treating Claude like Google: Ask questions → Get answer → Leave.
The problem is that Claude becomes exponentially more useful when it understands your work, your goals, your writing style, your projects, and the way you think.
And today, I’ll show you exactly how I would set up Claude if I were starting from scratch.
This is the same approach I would recommend to writers, developers, founders, marketers, and anyone who wants AI to become part of their workflow instead of just another chatbot.
Note: This post was originally published in my newsletter, AI Made Simple. It’s basically where I document what actually works for me with AI, in real workflows.
With that said, let’s get started.
Step 1: Stop Starting New Chats for Everything
This is the biggest mistake I see people make.
They create a brand-new conversation every time they need help.
That’s like hiring an employee and forcing them to forget everything at the end of every day. That’s basically what most people do with Claude or any other AI model.
Instead, create dedicated projects for:
- Writing
- Coding
- Business
- Research
- Personal Growth
- Content Marketing
Now every conversation inside that project builds context.
And Claude slowly learns how you work, and the quality improves without you having to repeat yourself.
Step 2: Create a “How I Work” Document or a Context File
This single file can dramatically improve outputs, and most people don’t know about it.
I’m talking about creating a document file called how-i-work.md, or you can call it context.md, writing-style.md, about-me.md, content-guidelines.md, and so on.
Inside it, write things like:
- What you do
- Your goals
- Your audience
- Your products
- Your preferred writing style
- Common workflows
- Things you hate
For example, my document would include:
- Avoid generic advice
- Use practical examples
- Write in simple English, my writing style, tone
- Prioritize useful information over motivation
- Focus on actionable steps
- Don’t sound like corporate marketing
Upload this file to Claude whenever you start a new project, and it will understand how you want information presented.
Most users never do this, and so they get the generic response.
P.S. Even when you use the best AI website builders, the best AI headshot generators, the best web scraping tools, the best AI writing tools, the best AI humanizers, and so on, try to provide some context about yourself or help the tool understand what you want. This makes the process much simpler, and you’ll get outputs that are much closer to what you’re looking for.
Just so you know:
Everything I’ve shared here is something I actually use.
If this post changed how you think about AI even a little, that didn’t happen in isolation. It came from a much bigger shift in how I use AI overall.
That’s why I put that entire system down inside “The (Unfair) AI Workflow Playbook” with everything you need.
It’s the exact set of workflows I use daily to run my work faster than feels normal, and if you apply even a few of them, you’ll save hundreds of hours.
You can spend months figuring this out on your own, or you can steal my entire playbook right now.
Step 3: Teach Claude What Good Looks Like
Most people tell Claude what they want, and very few people show it.
Yes, you read that right. The fastest way to improve output quality is to upload examples.
- If you’re a writer ➙ Upload your best articles.
- If you’re a marketer ➙ Upload successful campaigns.
- If you’re a developer ➙ Upload code you are proud of.
Claude learns patterns surprisingly well.
Whenever I see people complain about generic AI output, my first question is: “Did you give it examples of what good looks like?”
Most of the time the answer is no, and so the generic response.
Step 4: Create a Prompt Library
Every time you see a useful prompt, or a prompt produces an amazing result, save it.
Don’t trust yourself to remember it later because you will surely forget it.
Create a folder anywhere called: Prompt Library.
Inside it save prompts like:
- Research Prompt
- Editing Prompt
- Content Outline Prompt
- Competitor Analysis Prompt
- Product Review Prompt
- Newsletter Prompt
After a few weeks, you’ll have your own collection of tried-and-tested prompts that are useful for your daily tasks.
This alone can save hours every day.
Step 5: Create Output Templates
Let’s say you regularly write newsletters, social media posts, product reviews, and weekly reports.
Try to create templates or a Claude Skill for each of them.
Instead of asking, “Write a newsletter”, ask, “Fill this newsletter template”.
Claude performs much better when the structure already exists.
You get consistency and predictable, high-quality output while spending less time editing.
Step 6: Make Claude Review Its Own Work
Most users stop after the first answer, and that’s usually a big mistake.
I always add another prompt to modify the result further like the way I want.
Something like:
Review this article as a harsh editor. Find weak sections, unnecessary words, vague advice, and missing examples.
Or:
Give this draft a score out of 10 and explain why.
This second pass often improves the output dramatically.
Step 7: Use Claude for Multi-Step Workflows
Most people ask for the final result immediately, and that’s one of the reasons the output feels average.
Instead of: “Write a blog post about AI.”
Try:
- Step 1: Research the topic
- Step 2: Find interesting angles
- Step 3: Create outlines
- Step 4: Select the best outline
- Step 5: Write the draft
- Step 6: Edit for clarity
- Step 7: Improve examples
- Step 8: Create title options
This workflow consistently produces better content.
And the same principle works for coding, research, business planning, and marketing.
Step 8: Build One Repeatable System
Find one task you repeat every week. Yes, just one.
Maybe it’s:
- Writing articles
- Creating newsletters
- Researching competitors
- Reviewing code
- Preparing client reports
Document the process then teach Claude to follow it.
Here the goal isn’t to use AI more, instead the goal is to think less about repetitive work.
Step 9: Create a Personal Knowledge Base
One of the smartest things you can do is create a folder containing:
- Lessons learned
- Successful experiments
- Failed experiments
- Business insights
- Writing principles
- Frameworks
Over time, this becomes your second brain.
Claude can search through it and help you apply your own knowledge instead of generating generic internet advice.
Most people never build this, and the few who do gain a massive advantage.
Step 10: Improve the System Every Week
This is the secret most people miss.
Your Claude setup should evolve so every week ask yourself:
- Which prompts worked?
- Which outputs were weak?
- What context was missing?
- Which workflow should be automated?
- Which template needs improvement?
Small improvements compound, and a setup that’s 1% better every week becomes dramatically better after a few months.
Let’s Wrap Up
Most people think they need a better AI model or the AI tools they use right now are the problem.
But most of the time, that’s not true.
What they really need is a better system, and Claude is already good enough for most work.
The real problem is usually:
- Missing context
- Poor workflows
- Weak prompts
- No templates
- No examples
- No process
Fix those things, and Claude stops feeling like a chatbot and starts feeling like a teammate.
That’s when you start getting real results.
And that’s the difference between people who use AI once in a while and people who build their entire workflow around it.
Hope you like it.
If this resonated with you, share it with someone who needs to read it, since most people want to learn practically about AI but won’t access posts like this.
And that’s where you can help someone you care about use AI practically and get ahead.
Also, don’t forget to check out “The (Unfair) AI Workflow Playbook” where I shared the exact set of AI workflows I use daily to run my work faster than feels normal.
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