The exact 7 days I'd run if I were learning AI from zero today. Every step. No fluff. By Sunday night, you'll have done something you couldn't have done a week ago.
Read this first
If you're reading this, you've been "meaning to start" with AI for months. You've watched videos. You've heard everyone say it's a game changer. And you still haven't actually set anything up.
This plan fixes that. 7 days. Real steps. By the end of the week, you've installed Claude, connected your real tools, built your first project, written your first automation, and used it to ship something real.
What you need
Claude Pro ($20/mo) and about 30-60 minutes a day for a week. That's the whole investment.
Total time across both days: about 30 minutes. The goal is to have Claude installed, paid for, and connected to 3 tools you actually use.
Day 1 · 10 min
Download the Claude desktop app
Go to claude.com/download. Install it. Sign in with your email. The desktop app gives you Cowork, Projects, Skills, and Connectors all in one place. The web version (claude.ai) is fine for quick stuff but you want the desktop for the full thing.
Day 1 · 2 min
Upgrade to Claude Pro ($20/mo)
Free tier won't run most of what you're about to build. Hit Settings, hit Plan, hit Upgrade. Pro is the minimum. You can cancel any time but you won't want to.
Day 2 · 15 min
Connect 3 tools
Open Settings, find Connectors. Connect exactly these 3:
· Gmail (read access)
· Google Drive (read access)
· Google Calendar (read access)
Don't connect everything yet. You want to start with the tools that hold the most signal about your day.
After Day 2
You now have a Claude that can see your real work. Test it: ask Claude, "What's on my calendar tomorrow?" If it answers, you're ready for Day 3.
Time: 30 minutes. The goal is to give Claude a dedicated workspace that knows who you are and what you do.
Day 3 · Step 01
Create a Project called "My Work"
Click Projects in the sidebar. Hit Create Project. Name it My Work. Simple.
Day 3 · Step 02
Write your "About me"
Open the Project's instructions field. Write 1 to 2 paragraphs in plain English. Who you are. What you do. What you're working on this quarter. How you want Claude to talk to you. Don't overthink it. You can edit it anytime.
Day 3 · Step 03
Drop in 3 to 5 reference files
Documents you reference often. Examples: your role description, your team's OKRs, a recent strategy doc, your last performance review, a project brief you keep coming back to. Drag them into the Project's files panel.
Below is the exact "About me" template I'd use. Paste it into your Project instructions and edit the brackets.
# Who I am Name: [Your name] Role: [Your job title] Company: [Where you work, plus 1 sentence on what they do] Years in this role: [number] Timezone: [your timezone] # What I'm working on right now · [Project / responsibility 1, plus the goal] · [Project / responsibility 2, plus the goal] · [Recurring task I do every week] # How I want you to work with me · Tone: [direct, conversational, formal, etc.] · Length: [short bullets / paragraphs / fully written] · What I hate: [filler phrases, sycophancy, hedging] · What I love: [opinions, pushback, concrete examples] # What I'm trying to get better at · [Skill 1] · [Skill 2] · [Habit I'm building] # Goals this quarter · [Goal 1, with the metric if there is one] · [Goal 2]
After Day 3
Test it. Open a chat inside your Project and ask: "Given what you know about me, what should I focus on this week?" If the answer is specific to YOU, your Project is working.
Time: 30 minutes. The goal is to automate one recurring task you do every week. Just one.
Day 4 · Step 01
Pick the most boring recurring task you do
Status updates. Meeting recaps. Weekly reports. 1:1 prep. Customer follow-up emails. Pick one. Don't try to automate 5 things on day 4, you'll abandon the whole project.
Day 4 · Step 02
Open Plugin Create
In Claude Cowork, click Customize → Plugin Create. This is the wizard that builds skills in plain English. You're not coding.
Day 4 · Step 03
Walk through the wizard
It'll ask you what the skill does, what inputs it needs, what the output should look like. Answer in plain English. Be specific. Tell it the format you want, the tone you want, the length you want.
Day 4 · Step 04
Save it with a short slash command
Give it a trigger that's easy to type. /monday, /recap, /followup. Now you can run it from any Claude chat by typing the slash.
Day 4 · Step 05
Test it 3 times
Run it against 3 different inputs. Whatever's wrong with the output, edit the skill instructions. Test again. Keep going until the output is solid.
After Day 4
You just built your first automation. Most people who watch AI videos for 6 months never get here. You did it in 30 minutes.
Total time: 60 to 90 minutes spread across the weekend. The goal is to actually ship something using Claude that you couldn't have shipped without it.
Day 5
Pick the stuck project
Spend 10 minutes thinking. What's been sitting on your plate for a month that you haven't touched? A doc you're avoiding writing. A spreadsheet you're avoiding building. A decision you're avoiding making. That's the one.
Day 6
Draft + build with Claude
Open your Project. Ask Claude to help you tackle the stuck thing.
· If it's a doc, ask Claude to draft it as an Artifact, then iterate.
· If it's data, ask Claude to build a tracker or analysis Artifact.
· If it's a decision, turn on Extended Thinking and walk through the options.
Day 7
Polish + ship it to a real person
Edit what Claude built. Make it yours. Then send it to the actual person who's been waiting. Don't sit on it. The whole point of Day 7 is hitting send.
Use this exact set of prompts across the weekend, depending on what you're building.
# If you're drafting a doc "Build me a draft of [the doc] as an Artifact. Audience is [person]. Goal is [outcome]. Tone is [direct / formal / casual]. Length is [1 page / 3 pages / whatever]. Here's the context: [paste anything relevant from your files]." Then iterate: "Tighten section 2." "Make the headline punchier." "Add a section on X." # If you're building a tracker or dashboard "Build me a [tracker / dashboard / one-pager] as an Artifact that shows [the data or signal you care about]. Columns I need: [list]. The headline metric is [what matters most]. Make it shareable so I can send the link to my team." Then iterate: "Add a column for status." "Add color coding for at-risk items." "Make it filterable by [thing]." # If you're making a decision "Turn on Extended Thinking. Walk me through [the decision]. Here are the options I'm considering: [list them]. Here are the constraints: [list them]. Here's what I'm leaning toward: [your gut]. Push back on my gut. Tell me what I'm not seeing. End with a recommendation." # If you're answering a hard email "Help me draft a reply to this email. The relationship is [partner / customer / boss / coworker]. The goal is [what I want them to do / understand / agree to]. I want it to come across as [direct but warm / firm / collaborative]. Here's the thread: [paste it]. Draft 2 versions, one short and one fuller." # If you're stuck on what to even build "Look at my project files and my About me. What's the most valuable thing I could ship this weekend in 60 to 90 minutes? Give me 3 options, ranked by impact. Pick the one you think I should do and tell me why."
By Sunday night
You'll have installed Claude, connected your tools, built your first Project, automated one recurring task, and shipped something real to a real person. That's the whole week. You're now ahead of 90% of people still watching AI explainer videos.
Don't stop at day 7. The compounding starts in week 2.
Move 01
Build a second Skill
Pick another recurring task. Run Plugin Create again. By the end of week 2 you have 2 skills you trigger with a slash. You're saving 2 to 3 hours a week already.
Move 02
Add 2 more connectors
Slack and your CRM, or whatever the 2 tools you use most after email and calendar are. The more Claude can see, the better it can help.
Move 03
Build a second Project
One Project per major slice of your job. Don't dump everything in "My Work." Keep them separate so context stays clean.
The honest truth
Most people give up on AI in week 1 because they don't have a plan. You now have one. Run the plan. Don't optimize, don't research more, don't watch another video. Just run it. The version of you that finished this week is the one who actually uses AI now.
© 2026 Mariah Brunner. All rights reserved.