By Dan Donovan, @askdandonovan
Six elements that tell Claude or ChatGPT everything it needs to know, so you stop going back and forth and start getting the right answer first time.
Google trained us to compress. Short keywords, no sentences, no context. That's how you get good search results. AI is the opposite. The more context you give it, the better it performs. Most people write three words and wonder why they get a generic answer. This cheat sheet fixes that.
AI knows nothing about you unless you tell it. One paragraph covering your business, your role, and your customers transforms every response. Without this, it's guessing.
Tell Claude what expert lens to apply. This sets the perspective and tone for the entire response. "Act as a..." is one of the fastest ways to improve output quality.
Be specific. Include the output format, the length, and the end-use. "Help me with my proposal" leaves too much to guess. "Write a 200-word executive summary for a proposal to a plumbing company, goal is to get a signed retainer" doesn't.
This is where most of the leverage is. There are two ways to give AI the situation it needs, and most people use neither.
Paste in the email thread, proposal, website copy, meeting notes, PowerPoint: anything that gives the AI the real situation. Don't summarise it. Give it the raw material and let it read.
Hit the microphone button in your Claude app, or use WhisperFlow on desktop, and just talk. Yap for five to ten minutes. Give it the situation, the history, the people involved, the constraints. You'll be absolutely shocked by what comes back, and you'll save heaps of time not going back and forth.
Claude app: built-in mic button, free to use on iOS and Android.
WhisperFlow: Mac & Windows desktop. Both links go to the same trial at the same price. If you sign up through mine and later subscribe, Wispr pays me a small commission. It doesn't cost you anything extra. Use whichever feels right.
Tell it what to avoid, what tone to use, and what length to aim for. Constraints stop AI from going somewhere you don't want it to go, and save you editing time.
Paste a previous email you liked, a post that performed well, or a doc written in your style and say "match this tone." This is the fastest shortcut to getting AI to sound like you, not like AI.
Copy this. Fill in the brackets. Paste it into Claude or ChatGPT before any important task. The test: if a smart freelancer saw only this, could they do the job? If yes, you're done.
Background: I run [business name], a [describe what you do] serving [your customers]. I'm [your name/role].
Role: Act as [the expert this task needs — e.g. "a senior copywriter", "an operations consultant"].
Task: [Exactly what you need. Include format, length, and end-use.]
Context: [Paste the relevant email, doc, notes, or website here. Or describe the situation in detail.]
Constraints: [Tone, what to avoid, reading level, max length, things that must be included.]
Format: [How should the output be structured? e.g. "3 short paragraphs", "a bulleted checklist", "a script with hook, body, and CTA".]
Example: [Optional — paste something you liked and say "match this tone".]
For element 4 (Context), here's what to paste in based on the task: