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A free guide by Mariah Brunner ↗ INSTAGRAM ↗ TIKTOK

Your First 7 Days
With Claude

A day-by-day guide to go from "I just signed up" to "Claude runs half my workday." Every setting, every step, every prompt. Assumes you know nothing, and you’ll know everything by Day 7.

All you need is a Claude account at claude.ai. The free plan covers everything in this guide. Pro ($20 a month, or $17 billed yearly) and Max just give you more use per day before you hit limits (pricing). The web app and desktop app work the same way, so use whichever you like.

One Thing Per Day

Each day is one feature and 10 to 15 minutes. Don’t do all 7 in one sitting. The point is the habit, so by the end of the week Claude is part of how you work.

Days 1 To 3: Set It Up

01

Day 1, teach Claude who you are

Memory saves facts about you between chats, so you stop re-explaining yourself. It’s on by default, but check it.

  1. Click your profile icon, then Settings, then Your Claude. (On the older layout it’s Settings, then Memory.)
  2. Make sure Memory from chats is on.
  3. Open a new chat, paste the prompt below and fill in the brackets.
Day 1 Memory Setup
I want you to remember the following about me for all future conversations. About me: - My name is [your name] - My job is [your title] at [your company or industry] - I'm responsible for [2-3 main things you do, e.g. "our content calendar, blog posts and working with the design team"] How I work: - I prefer [communication style, e.g. "short, direct answers with no filler"] - When you write for me, match this tone: [e.g. "professional but conversational, like talking to a smart colleague"] - I [do / don't] want emojis in my work What I'm working on right now: - [Current project or priority, e.g. "launching a new product line in Q3"] Tools I use daily: - [e.g. Google Workspace, Slack, Notion] Save all of this to memory. Then repeat back, in 5 bullets or fewer, what you'll remember, and ask me one question about anything that's unclear.

Changed jobs? Just say "update your memory, I’m now working on [new thing]." To see or delete what it remembers, click Manage next to Your memory in that same settings page. (Memory docs)

02

Day 2, connect your Google apps

Connectors let Claude work inside your real inbox and calendar, so you can ask "what’s on my calendar tomorrow?" instead of copy-pasting. This is where it starts to feel like a work tool.

  1. Go to Customize (called Plugins on newer accounts) and add the Gmail, Google Calendar and Google Drive connectors. You can also click + in any chat and choose Connectors.
  2. Sign in with the Google account you want Claude to see and approve the permissions.
Day 2 Daily Chief Of Staff
You're my chief of staff for today. Use my connected Gmail and Google Calendar. 1. Read the emails I received in the last 24 hours. Sort them into: Needs a reply today / Can wait / Ignore. 2. For each "Needs a reply today" email, give me one line on what they want and any deadline. 3. List my meetings for tomorrow. For each one: who's attending, what it's about, and anything in my inbox or Google Drive I should read first. 4. Draft short replies for the 3 most urgent emails in my tone and save them as Gmail drafts. Format: a "Top 3 today" list first, then a table (Sender | Subject | Bucket | What they need), then the meeting prep. Rules: don't send, delete or archive anything, and don't change my calendar. Drafts only. If a connector isn't working, tell me instead of guessing.

You Stay In Control

Claude can now send email and change calendar events, and by default it asks your approval before each one. I keep my prompts to "drafts only" and send them myself. (Google connector docs)

03

Day 3, create your first Project

A Project is a workspace for one area of your work. You add the files and instructions once, and every chat inside it starts with that background.

  1. Click Projects in the left sidebar, then + New Project. Name it after one area you talk to Claude about a lot, like "Client Proposals" or "Content Strategy."
  2. Click + in the project knowledge area on the right and add the files Claude needs, like strategy docs, brand guidelines or past reports.
  3. Click Set project instructions, paste the template below, edit it and save.
  4. Start a chat inside the project and ask about your files.
Day 3 Project Instructions
This project is for [area of work, e.g. "our Q3 product launch"]. Context: - We're working toward [goal] by [date or timeframe] - The team: [key people and their roles] - Our audience is [who it's for] - Success looks like [2-3 measurable goals] Files in this project: - [File 1]: [what it is, e.g. "the roadmap with feature dates"] - [File 2]: [what it is, e.g. "our brand voice guidelines"] - [File 3]: [what it is, e.g. "last quarter's competitor analysis"] How to work in this project: - Check the project files before answering. If the answer is in a file, say which one. If it isn't, say so instead of guessing. - Keep answers short unless I ask for detail. - When you draft anything, match the brand voice file. - Flag anything that conflicts with the dates in the roadmap. - End longer answers with one line: "Next step:" and the single most useful thing I should do.

Keep each project focused: one per client, initiative or recurring workflow. The tighter the context, the better the answers. The free plan allows up to five projects. (Projects docs)

Days 4 To 6: Put It To Work

04

Day 4, hand it a real file

Claude reads PDFs, Word docs, spreadsheets, transcripts, images and slides. Click + next to the message box, attach something real from your job, and use this. For most people, this is the day it clicks.

Day 4 Read This File For Me
I've attached a [report / meeting notes / spreadsheet / draft]. I'm a [your role] and I need to [what you'll do with it, e.g. "brief my boss on Friday"]. Read the whole file first, then give me: 1. A 3-sentence summary a busy person could read in 20 seconds 2. The 5 most important points, each with where in the file it came from (page, section or column) 3. Every action item or decision, with an owner and deadline if the file names one 4. Anything that looks unclear, inconsistent or missing 5. If it's data: the 3 insights I'd present to my boss, and any data quality problems Format with short headers and bullets. Don't invent numbers or names that aren't in the file. If something is ambiguous, list it under "Questions for me" at the end.

05

Day 5, give it an hour of work

Pick something that normally takes you 30 to 60 minutes, like a weekly report or the email you’ve been avoiding. The difference between a bad answer and an hour saved is almost always context, so tell it who reads it, what it’s for and what tone to use.

Day 5 Real Work Prompt
I want you to do a task that normally takes me about an hour. Ask me up to 3 questions first if anything important is missing, then write it. The task: [weekly status report / project plan / proposal / the email I've been putting off] Who reads it: [my boss, a client, my team] What it's for: [the decision or action I want from them] What you need to know: - [Paste your notes, bullets or the situation in your own words] - [Key facts, numbers, dates, people involved] - [Anything that's blocked or sensitive] Format: [e.g. "bullets grouped by project, highlights at the top, blockers at the bottom" or "exec summary, problem, plan, timeline, expected results"]. Keep it to [one page / 200 words]. Tone: [direct / warm / persuasive / diplomatic] Rules: make it ready to send after a light edit. Don't pad it. Mark anything you had to assume with [CHECK] so I can confirm it.

Then push back. "Make the intro shorter." "Too formal, make it sound like me." Great output comes from the back-and-forth, not the first try.

06

Day 6, build your first artifact

Ask Claude to build a tracker, planner or calculator and it makes a working tool in a panel next to your chat. Keep asking for changes ("add a search bar," "make it dark mode") until it’s right.

Day 6 Build A Tool
Build me an interactive [task tracker / weekly planner / decision matrix / expense splitter] as an artifact I can actually use every day. Who uses it: [me / my team / my roommates] What it must do: - [Task tracker: To Do, In Progress and Done columns; each task has a title, priority (High, Medium, Low) and due date; drag tasks between columns] - [Decision matrix: 3-5 options, criteria I can weight, scores I can change, and the winner updating live] - [Expense splitter: add people, add expenses with who paid and who shared, then show who owes who] Design: clean, simple, easy on a phone. Big tap targets, clear labels, no clutter. Start it with 3 realistic sample entries so I can see how it works, and a "Clear all" button. When it's done, tell me in 3 bullets how to use it and suggest 2 upgrades I might want.

When you love it, click Publish and copy the link. Anyone with it can use the tool without a Claude account. (Publishing docs) Bonus: drop in a screenshot of a tool you pay for and say "rebuild this as an artifact."

Day 7 Stack It All Together

Today you combine your Project, connectors and an artifact in one chat. Open the Project from Day 3, start a new chat and paste this.

Day 7 Full Stack Workflow
Use everything you have access to in this project: the project files and instructions, my Gmail, my Google Calendar and my Google Drive. My focus: [your project name or area of work] 1. Find every email from the last 7 days and every meeting in the next 7 days related to this project. Summarize what's happening in 5 bullets. 2. Pull out every task, owner, deadline and open question you can find across the files, emails and meetings. 3. Build an interactive artifact: a project tracker with a column for each workstream, every task with owner and status I can update, deadlines in the next 7 days highlighted, and a "This week" section at the top. 4. Under the tracker, give me: - My top 3 priorities this week and why each one is urgent - Any deadline I'm at risk of missing - Who I need to follow up with, with a one-line draft message for each - One thing I can delegate or drop Rules: don't send emails or change my calendar. If you can't find something, say what's missing instead of filling the gap.

What You Built This Week

Claude knows who you are, works with your email, calendar and files, has a dedicated workspace for your main area of work, and you’ve built a tool from scratch. Most people who’ve had Claude for months haven’t set up any of this. You did it in a week.