Tips you can use today to get more done, work faster and stop doing everything by hand.
Most people ask Claude a question, get an answer and close the tab. That’s a tiny slice of what it can do.
Claude can triage your inbox, prep you for meetings, draft in your voice, build interactive tools and research anything with sources. None of that happens until you set it up. Each tip below takes 2 to 5 minutes and comes with a prompt you can copy.
The 10 Tips
01
Save your role to Memory
Memory is how Claude remembers who you are across chats, and it’s on every plan. Paste this into a new chat once and Claude saves it. To see or edit what it remembers, go to Settings, then Your Claude. (How memory works)
Save Your Role
Remember all of this about me, and use it in every chat from now on.
WHO I AM
- Name: [your name]
- Role: [your job title] at [your company or "my own business"]
- What I do day to day: [the 3 or 4 things that fill your week]
- Who I work with: [boss, clients, team, customers]
HOW I WORK
- My communication style: [direct / casual / formal]
- My biggest time wasters: [list 2 or 3]
- Tools I use every day: [Gmail, Slack, Excel, Canva...]
HOW I WANT ANSWERS
- Default length: [short and scannable / detailed breakdowns]
- When I ask for a decision: [give me options with tradeoffs / just tell me what you'd do]
- Never: [anything you hate, e.g. "long intros," "corporate buzzwords," "bullet points for everything"]
When you've saved it, read it back to me in 5 lines so I can fix anything you got wrong.
02
Create a Project for your main workflow
A Project is a workspace with its own instructions and files, so you set the context once. Click Projects, then + New Project, name it after your main workflow, click Set project instructions and paste this. Then upload 3 to 5 files like templates or past work. (Projects)
Project Instructions
You are my dedicated assistant for [WORKFLOW, e.g. "client proposals" or "weekly reports"].
WHAT THIS PROJECT IS FOR
[2 or 3 sentences: what you produce here, who it's for, and what "good" looks like.]
THE FILES
I've uploaded [templates / past examples / brand guide]. Check them before every answer. Match the structure and tone of the best example unless I say otherwise.
RULES
1. Ask me up to 3 questions first if anything important is missing. Don't guess at numbers, names or dates.
2. Write in my voice: [describe it in a few words].
3. Format: [e.g. "headline, 3 short sections, a clear next step"].
4. Flag anything that looks off in what I give you (a wrong date, a number that doesn't add up).
5. End every draft with one line on what would make it stronger.
03
Connect your email
Stop copy-pasting emails. Connect Gmail under Customize (called Plugins on newer accounts), then Connectors. Claude can read your inbox and save replies as drafts. It can also send, but it asks for your approval first, so you stay in control. Outlook works through the Microsoft 365 connector with a work account. It’s read-only unless your company admin turns on write tools. (Gmail connector)
Morning Inbox Triage
Read my Gmail inbox from the last 24 hours and triage it for me.
1. Sort every email into one of these groups:
- URGENT (needs a reply today)
- ACTION NEEDED (this week)
- FYI (no reply needed)
- IGNORE (promos and newsletters, just count them)
2. For each URGENT email, draft a reply in my voice (short, warm, clear next step) and save it as a Gmail draft. Do not send anything.
3. Give me a summary I can scan in 60 seconds:
URGENT: sender | subject | why it's urgent | draft saved?
ACTION NEEDED: sender | subject | what they need | by when
FYI: sender | one-line summary
4. Finish with anything I seem to owe someone that I haven't answered in over 3 days.
Before: "45 minutes every morning sorting email."
After: "5 minutes reviewing the drafts Claude already wrote."
04
Use the CRAFT framework
Vague prompts get vague answers. CRAFT stands for Context, Role, Action, Format and Tone. Hit all five and the answer gets dramatically better. Instead of "write me an email to a client," try this.
A CRAFT Prompt
Context: My client Sarah hasn't responded to my proposal in 2 weeks. It was for a [project] at [price], and she was excited on our last call.
Role: Act as a senior freelance designer who charges premium rates and never sounds needy.
Action: Write a follow-up email that re-engages her without sounding desperate. Give me 2 versions: one that adds a small piece of new value (an idea or example) and one that makes it easy for her to say "not right now."
Format: Under 5 sentences each, a subject line for each, and one clear next step.
Tone: Warm and confident. I'm offering value, not chasing.
05
Turn up the effort for hard decisions
On the newest models (Opus 5.5, Sonnet 5.5, Haiku 5.5 and Fable 5.1), Claude always thinks before it answers. What you control is how hard. Click the model name next to the send button, open Effort and pick High or above for the decisions that matter. (Effort and thinking)
Hard Decision
I need help with a hard decision. Think it through properly before you answer.
MY SITUATION
[Paste everything: the background, the options you're weighing, your constraints (money, time, people), what's at stake and your deadline.]
WHAT I NEED
1. Tell me what I'm probably not seeing. Name the assumption I'm making that's most likely wrong.
2. Give me 3 genuinely different options (not 3 versions of the same one). For each: the upside, the real downside, and what would have to be true for it to work.
3. Tell me which one you'd pick and why, in 3 sentences.
4. Give me the one question I should answer (or person I should ask) before I commit.
RULES
- Be direct. Don't just tell me what I want to hear.
- If you need a fact you don't have, ask me instead of assuming.
06
Build one Skill
A Skill is a saved workflow Claude uses whenever it’s relevant, so you never re-explain it. If you do something more than twice a week, make it a Skill. Ask Claude to write it with this prompt and download the ZIP. Then go to Customize (or Plugins), then Skills, click +, then Create skill, then Upload a skill and pick the ZIP. Skills are on every plan but need code execution turned on under Settings, then Capabilities (labeled Code execution and file creation or Create and edit files). (Skills)
Write My First Skill
Write me a Claude Skill called weekly-summary and give it to me as a ZIP file I can upload.
Format:
- A folder named weekly-summary containing SKILL.md
- SKILL.md starts with YAML frontmatter: name: weekly-summary, and a description under 200 characters that says to use it when I ask for my weekly summary or a recap of my week
- Zip the folder so weekly-summary/ is at the root of the ZIP
What the skill should do every time:
1. Read my email and calendar from the past 5 working days (using my connected Gmail and Google Calendar).
2. List the 5 most important things that happened, most important first.
3. List any open items or follow-ups I still owe, with who's waiting.
4. Draft a short summary I could send to [my manager / my team / my clients], under 200 words, in my voice: [describe your voice].
5. Never send anything. Show me the draft.
Before you write it, ask me anything you need to make it fit my week.
From then on, every Friday just say "do my weekly summary." Claude reads your week and hands you a draft to review.
07
Use voice mode between meetings
Open the Claude app on your phone, tap the sound wave icon next to the microphone and just talk. It’s on every plan, and it’s the best way to brain dump in the car or walking to lunch. (Voice mode)
After Your Next Meeting
I just got out of a meeting. Here's everything, in no particular order: [ramble it all: what was discussed, what got decided, what you need to do, what other people promised, anything you're worried about].
Turn this into:
1. Key decisions (one line each)
2. My action items, each with a deadline (if I didn't say one, suggest one and mark it "suggested")
3. What other people committed to, by name
4. A short follow-up email to the group: the decisions, who owns what, and the next date
5. One thing I should worry about that I didn't mention
If anything I said is unclear or contradicts itself, ask me before you guess.
A 60-second voice note replaces 15 minutes of notes and follow-up writing.
08
Ask Claude to build you an artifact
An artifact is an interactive tool that opens next to your chat, like a calculator, tracker or dashboard. You can keep editing it, download it and share it with a link. (Sharing artifacts)
Build A Tool
Build me an interactive [TOOL, e.g. "meeting cost calculator"] as an artifact.
WHO USES IT: [me / my team / clients]
INPUTS: [list them, e.g. "number of attendees, average hourly rate, meeting length, meetings per week"]
OUTPUTS: [what it shows, e.g. "cost per meeting, cost per year, and what that money could pay for instead"]
DESIGN
- A clear title and 2 lines of instructions at the top
- Clean and professional enough to share with a client
- Works on a phone
- Sensible example values filled in so it makes sense the second it opens
When it's built, suggest 3 upgrades that would make it more useful.
Anything you’d normally build in a spreadsheet works, from an ROI or pricing calculator to a project timeline estimator or a budget tracker.
09
Use Research instead of Google
Research plans its own search, follows leads across many sources and writes a report with citations. If you’ve connected Gmail or Drive, it can pull those in too. Click the + at the bottom left of the chat box, choose Research and look for the blue indicator. Web search has to be on too. It’s on paid plans and takes a few minutes. (Research)
Research Brief
Research [TOPIC OR COMPANY] for me. I'm a [your role] and I'll use this to [decide X / prep for a meeting / write a pitch].
I need:
1. A clear summary of where things stand today (one paragraph).
2. The 3 most important developments from the last 6 months, with dates.
3. What experts and credible sources are saying, and where they disagree.
4. What this means for my work specifically: 3 concrete implications.
5. What's still unknown or worth watching.
Rules:
- Cite a source for every factual claim, and prefer primary sources (company sites, filings, official data, original studies).
- If sources conflict, show both and say which you trust more and why.
- Keep it under 800 words, with a 3-bullet summary at the top.
10
Start a Monday morning routine
This is where it comes together. Instead of spending your first two hours on email and prep, run these and you’re ready in about 15 minutes.
Inbox triage (3 min). Run the Tip 3 prompt, then review and send the drafts.
Meeting prep (5 min). Ask Claude for a one-page brief on each of today’s meetings, pulled from your email, calendar and files.
Priority check (5 min). Ask what’s due, what’s overdue and what to do first today.
On the go (2 min). Use voice mode between meetings for brain dumps and follow-ups.
On a paid plan, you can make the inbox triage a scheduled task so it’s waiting for you every Monday.