Most people are using Claude wrong
Most people ask Claude a question, get an answer, and close the tab. They're using maybe 5% of what it can actually do.
Claude can manage your inbox, prep you for meetings, draft documents in your voice, build interactive tools, research competitors, and run entire workflows with a single command. But none of that happens until you set it up right.
These 10 tips are the foundation. Each one takes 2–5 minutes, includes a prompt you can copy and paste, and will immediately change how you use AI at work.
The gap between people who actually know how to use AI and people who don't is growing every month. These 10 tips put you on the right side of that gap.
Tip 1
Save your role to Memory
Memory is how Claude remembers who you are across every conversation. Save your role, your industry, how you work, and what you care about — and Claude actually knows you. You do this once and never have to explain yourself again.
Copy and paste this into a new Claude chat
"Remember all of this about me: My name is [your name]. I'm a [your role] at [your company]. I work on [what you do day-to-day]. My communication style is [direct/casual/formal]. My biggest time wasters are [list them]. When I ask for help, I want [concise answers / detailed breakdowns / options with tradeoffs]. Save all of this to your memory."
Why this matters
Without Memory, every conversation starts from zero. With it, Claude already knows your role, your preferences, and your context before you type a single word. It's the difference between talking to a stranger and talking to someone who works with you every day.
Tip 2
Create a Project for your main workflow
A Project is a dedicated workspace with its own instructions and uploaded files. Instead of re-explaining your context every time, you set it up once and every conversation inside that Project already knows the rules.
How to do it
Go to claude.ai → Projects → New Project. Name it after your main workflow (e.g., "Client Work" or "Weekly Reports"). In the Project instructions, paste: "You are my dedicated AI assistant for [workflow]. My role context is in Memory. When I ask for help, always [your rules — be specific, match my tone, check my files first, etc.]." Then upload 3–5 relevant files (templates, examples, past work).
Think of Projects like dedicated employees
Each Project knows its job, has access to the files it needs, and follows the rules you set. You wouldn't explain your company's entire context to a team member every morning — same idea here.
Tip 3
Connect your email
Stop copy-pasting emails into Claude. Connect your Gmail or Outlook and Claude can read your inbox, draft replies, and save them as drafts — all without you touching your email app. It never sends anything on your behalf. You always review first.
Try this after connecting your email
"Read my inbox from the last 24 hours. Sort everything into three categories: URGENT (needs a response today), ACTION NEEDED (this week), and FYI (no response needed). For each URGENT item, draft a response in my voice and save it as an email draft."
Before vs. after
Before: 45 minutes every morning triaging your inbox manually.
After: 5 minutes reviewing and sending the drafts Claude already wrote for you.
Tip 4
Use the CRAFT framework for every prompt
Most people write vague prompts and get vague answers. CRAFT fixes that. It stands for Context, Role, Action, Format, Tone — five elements that make every prompt dramatically better.
A vague prompt vs. a CRAFT prompt
Vague: "Write me an email to a client." CRAFT: "Context: My client Sarah hasn't responded to my proposal in 2 weeks. Role: I'm a freelance designer who charges premium rates. Action: Write a follow-up email that re-engages her without sounding desperate. Format: Under 5 sentences, with a clear next step. Tone: Warm and confident — I'm offering value, not chasing."
See the difference? The first prompt gives Claude nothing to work with. The second gives it everything it needs to write something you'd actually send.
Tip 5
Try Extended Thinking for hard decisions
Most Claude responses are fast. Extended Thinking is different — it tells Claude to actually reason through a problem before responding. It considers multiple angles, checks assumptions, and thinks step by step. Use it for decisions where you need depth, not speed.
Turn on Extended Thinking, then paste this
"Think through this carefully before responding. Here's my situation: [paste everything — the context, the constraints, the options you're considering, what's at stake]. I need you to: (1) Identify what I'm probably not seeing. (2) Give me 3 genuinely different options with honest tradeoffs. (3) Tell me which one you'd pick and why. Be direct."
How to turn it on
Click "Search and tools" at the bottom of any chat, then toggle "Extended thinking" on. You'll see a "Thinking…" indicator while Claude works through the problem.
Tip 6
Build one Skill as a /slash-command
A Skill is a saved workflow you trigger with a slash command. Instead of re-explaining the same instructions every time, you type /command-name and Claude runs it automatically. If you do something more than twice a week, it should be a Skill.
Copy this to create your first Skill
"I want to save this as a Skill with the slash command /weekly-summary. When I run /weekly-summary, here's what I always want: 1. Read my email and calendar from the past 5 days 2. List the 5 most important things that happened 3. List any open items or follow-ups I still owe 4. Draft a short summary I could send to my manager or team Always write in my voice. Keep it under 200 words. Save this as a Skill called /weekly-summary."
Now you just type /weekly-summary
Every Friday, one command, 30 seconds. Claude reads your week, writes the summary, and you review and send. That's the power of Skills — you teach Claude once, then it runs on demand forever.
Tip 7
Use Voice mode between meetings
Open the Claude app on your phone, tap the sound wave icon, and just talk. Voice mode is perfect for when typing isn't practical — between meetings, in the car, walking to lunch. It's also the best way to brain dump: just ramble everything on your mind and let Claude organize it.
Say this after your next meeting
"I just got out of a meeting. Here's what happened: [ramble everything — what was discussed, decisions made, what you need to do, what someone else committed to, anything you're worried about]. Organize this into: (1) Key decisions made. (2) My action items with deadlines. (3) A follow-up email I can send to the group."
Claude takes your messy voice note and turns it into structured notes, action items, and a draft email. A 60-second voice note replaces 15 minutes of manual note-taking and follow-up writing.
Tip 8
Ask Claude to build you an Artifact
An Artifact isn't a document — it's an interactive tool that appears in a side panel. Calculators, dashboards, trackers, templates. You can edit it, iterate on it, share it with anyone via a public link, and download it. It's like having a developer on your team.
Try this right now
"Build me an interactive [tool type] as an Artifact. It should have: [describe the inputs, outputs, and what it calculates or displays]. Make it clean and professional enough to share with a client or colleague. Include a title and brief instructions at the top."
Artifact ideas for any role
ROI calculator. Meeting cost calculator. Project timeline estimator. Client intake form. Comparison matrix. Pricing calculator. Budget tracker. Any tool you'd normally build in a spreadsheet — Claude can build it as a shareable, interactive Artifact in minutes.
Tip 9
Use Research mode instead of Google
Research mode doesn't just search the web — it plans a research strategy, follows leads across multiple sources, and compiles a structured report with citations. It also searches your connected tools (Gmail, Drive) alongside the web, so you get external intelligence and your internal context in one report.
Turn on Research mode and try this
"Research [topic or company]. I need: (1) A clear summary of the current landscape. (2) The 3 most important trends or developments from the last 6 months. (3) What the experts are saying and where they disagree. (4) How this affects my work as a [your role]. Cite every source."
How to turn it on
Click "Search and tools" at the bottom of any chat, then toggle "Research" on. Claude takes a few minutes — it's reading multiple web sources and building a comprehensive report. The result is a research brief that would have taken you an hour to compile manually.
Tip 10
Start a Monday morning routine
This is where it all comes together. Instead of spending your first two hours triaging emails, prepping for meetings, and figuring out what to work on — you run 3–4 Claude commands and you're ready to go in 15 minutes.
Step 1: Inbox triage (3 min)
Ask Claude to read your inbox, categorize everything, and draft replies for the urgent items. Review and send.
Step 2: Meeting prep (5 min)
For each meeting today, ask Claude to pull context from your emails, calendar, and files — then give you a 1-page brief with what to know and what to say.
Step 3: Priority check (5 min)
Ask Claude to review your week — what's due, what's overdue, what needs attention — and give you a prioritized task list for today.
Step 4: On the go (2 min)
Between meetings, use Voice mode for quick brain dumps, follow-up drafts, and action items. No typing needed.
15 minutes replaces 2 hours
This isn't theory. This is what people who actually use AI well do every single Monday. The people who spend 2 hours on what takes you 15 minutes are already behind — they just don't know it yet.
Want to go deeper?
The Weekend Claude Bootcamp
Everything above works for anyone. But the real power is when Claude is set up specifically for your role — your workflows, your tools, your communication style. The Weekend Claude Bootcamp is 25 role-specific chapters that build out a complete AI system for your exact job. Done in one weekend.
What you get
• A chapter built for YOUR specific role — Account Executive, Teacher, Designer, and 22 more
• Done-for-you Project instructions, custom prompts, and 3 Skills as /slash-commands
• Your role brief, communication style, and file uploads — all configured
• 4 real workflows you'll use Monday morning
• Artifacts, Research mode, Extended Thinking, Voice mode — all taught with your role's examples
• A personalized prompt library and a Monday morning routine
• Everything done in one weekend. Not a 30-day course. One weekend.
Launch sale: The first 100 people get early access pricing. Once they're gone, the price goes up.