30 to 60 minutes a day. One focus per day. By Sunday you’ll understand how AI actually works and you’ll have a daily workflow that keeps you sharp.
Four rules before Day 1.
01
Models
Claude has four current models. Haiku 5.5 is the fastest, for simple jobs. Sonnet 5.5 is the daily driver for most work. Opus 5.5 is for long, multi-step work where accuracy matters. Fable 5.1 is the heavy hitter for the hardest reasoning. (Anthropic’s model overview) Free plans get Sonnet and Haiku, and Pro adds Opus.
02
Tokens and the context window
A token is a chunk of text. On current Claude models, 1 million tokens is roughly 555,000 words, so a token is a bit over half a word. The context window is how much Claude can hold in mind at once. When a long chat gets worse, start a fresh one. Keep key info in a Project so every new chat starts with it.
03
Hallucinations
A hallucination is when AI states a made-up fact, source or quote that sounds real. It happens most on niche facts, recent events and exact citations. Never publish or act on something important without checking the original source.
Today’s Action
Sign up at claude.ai (free works; Pro is $20 a month if you want more usage). Click Projects, then + New Project, name it AI Fluency, click Set project instructions and paste this.
A good prompt has five parts.
Today’s Action
Take a prompt you ran recently and paste it into this. Save the before and after in your AI Fluency Project.
Connectors let Claude read and act in the apps you already use.
01
Open the directory
Go to Customize, then Connectors (on newer accounts Customize is called Plugins), and browse the connector directory. You can also click + in any chat and hover over Connectors.
02
Connect 5
Try Gmail, Google Calendar, Notion, Canva, and one for your role, like HubSpot for sales. By default Claude asks before it sends or changes anything.
03
Run one real prompt on each
"Find my last 3 emails from Sarah." "What’s on my calendar tomorrow?" "Find the Q3 strategy doc in Notion."
Today’s Action
Connect 5 and run one prompt on each. My favorites and the prompts I use are in 10 Claude Connectors That Change Your Daily Life.
01
Create the Project
Click Projects, then + New Project, and name it Daily Co-Pilot. Click Set project instructions and paste the prompt below with your brackets filled in.
02
Add 3 kinds of files
Your job or business description, your goals, and 5 to 10 samples of your own writing.
03
Run 3 chats in it
Draft an email, plan your week, brainstorm a project. Notice how much sharper it is than a blank chat.
Today’s Action
Build it. From now on, this is where you start every morning.
A skill is a saved set of instructions for a task you repeat. Save it once and Claude uses it automatically whenever the task comes up, or when you ask for it by name.
01
Turn on file creation
Go to Settings, then Capabilities, and turn on Code execution and file creation ("Create and edit files" in the newer layout). Skills work on every plan.
02
Have Claude build them
In a new chat, say: "Use your skill-creator skill to help me turn [a task I repeat, like meeting recaps] into a skill." Answer its questions. Good first picks are meeting recaps and weekly status updates.
03
Save and test
Save the skill when Claude offers, or download the ZIP and go to Customize (or Plugins), then Skills, click +, then Create skill, then Upload a skill. Run each one on real input today.
A plugin bundles skills, commands and connectors for one kind of work. Plugins are on paid plans and work in chat and Cowork. On Free, run the brief with just connectors.
01
Install Productivity and Brand Voice
Open Customize (or Plugins), go to the Plugins tab, then Discover, pick a plugin and click Add. Productivity handles tasks, calendars and daily workflows. Brand Voice keeps your drafts sounding like you. Type / in a chat to see their skills.
02
Run a real morning brief
Paste this into a new chat.
Today’s Action
Install 2 plugins and run one morning brief. More picks are in 10 Cowork Plugins That Replace Departments.
01
Morning brief (5 minutes)
Run the Day 6 prompt while your coffee brews. On a paid plan, type /schedule in a Cowork task to have it run every morning on its own.
02
Hand off 1 task a day
An email, a doc, some research. Soon you stop asking "can Claude do this?" and just hand it over.
03
End-of-day debrief (5 minutes)
In your Daily Co-Pilot Project, run this. On Fridays it also writes your weekly update.
Today’s Action
Block the morning brief and the debrief on your calendar as recurring 5-minute events for the next 30 days. The habit is what makes you fluent.
02
Memory
Go to Settings, then Your Claude, and turn on Memory from chats. Claude starts remembering your role, preferences and recurring projects across chats.
03
Your first agent
An agent is AI that takes action for you, like triaging your inbox or repurposing content. Start with my first AI agent guide.
04
Vibe coding
Build real apps by describing them in plain English with Lovable, Replit, Bolt or v0. Start small, like a habit tracker.