Three Simple Ways to Make ChatGPT or Claude Work the Way You Want

June 23, 2026

If you’ve been using ChatGPT or Claude the way most people do, you’re probably using the version that was built for everyone.

It works. It answers your questions. But it doesn’t really know you. It doesn’t know your business, how you like to communicate, or the things you keep wishing it would stop doing. So you end up nudging it in the same direction over and over, in every single chat.

Here’s the part a lot of people miss. You can change that, and you don’t have to be technical to do it.

I’m not talking about building custom GPTs or setting up fancy projects. I’m talking about three settings that are already sitting inside the tool you’re using right now. When I run workshops, I’ll ask the room who has touched these settings, and very few hands go up. That’s a missed opportunity, because these are the settings that turn a generic assistant into one that actually fits how you work.

Let me walk you through all three. None of them take long, and you could do them today.

First, tell it how you want to work

The first setting is instructions. In Claude it’s called Instructions. In ChatGPT it’s called Custom Instructions. You’ll find it by clicking your account name, going to Settings, and looking for Personalization.

Think of this as a free text box where you teach the tool how to behave with you. What you want from it, and just as importantly, what you don’t.

Here’s how I use mine. I tell it I don’t want fluff. I don’t want long, rambling answers. I want it to ask me one question at a time instead of throwing six at me at once. I want it to challenge my assumptions and push back when something doesn’t add up. And I want short, useful answers, not nine paragraphs when three sentences would do.

It’s a little like training a puppy. You reinforce what you want more of, and you gently correct the things that keep getting in your way. The more you use these tools, the more specific you’ll get.

If you’re not sure where to begin, there’s a shortcut. On the episode of my podcast that inspired this article, I shared a starter prompt you can copy and paste. It interviews you about your work and how you like to communicate, then hands you a ready-made set of instructions to drop in. There’s a version for Claude and one for ChatGPT in the show notes.

Second, check what it remembers about you

The second setting is memory. Both Claude and ChatGPT have it.

Picture memory as a backpack the tool carries around. As you chat, it tosses things in: details about you, projects you’ve mentioned, how you like to work. The idea is to serve you better over time. But the backpack only holds so much, and not everything in there is worth keeping.

So once in a while, it helps to look inside and prune. Like a garden, you trim back what isn’t serving the main purpose.

You’ll find memory in that same Settings area. There’s one difference between the two tools worth knowing. In ChatGPT, you can see each saved item and delete the ones you don’t want, though you can’t edit them on that screen. In Claude, you can view and adjust your memory right where you are.

A simple way to clean house in either tool: open a fresh chat and say, “Tell me everything you know about me, personally and professionally.” Then correct what’s off, fill in what’s missing, and drop what’s no longer useful. You’re just making sure it’s learning the right things about you.

Third, connect it to the tools you already use

The third setting opens things up the most. You can connect your AI tool to other apps you already use.

In Claude these are called connectors. In ChatGPT they’re called sources. You’ll find both by starting a new chat and clicking the plus button in the lower left corner.

When you open that up, it’s a bit like an app store. Mine is connected to Google Drive, Gmail, Canva, and a few others. One of my clients connected Adobe so they could work with PDFs right inside the tool. The point is to let your AI work with the files and accounts you already live in, so things start talking to each other.

A couple of friendly cautions. You’ll see fun lifestyle add-ons in there too, things like Instacart, Target, and Zillow. Nice to have, but maybe not what moves your workday forward. Start with the tools you actually use for work. And like anything you connect online, trust but verify before you hook something up. You can disconnect any of them at any time.

Where to start

If this feels like a lot, take a breath. You don’t have to do all three today.

The real shift is this. These tools aren’t meant to stay one-size-fits-all. They’re meant to be shaped around the way you actually work, and the controls to do that are already there, waiting for you.

So pick one. I’d start with instructions, since it changes every conversation you have from here on out. Spend ten minutes telling the tool how you like to work, and you’ll feel the difference in your very next chat.

Stay curious. That’s where all of this starts to pay off.

Related Resources

A Simple Way To Move Past Your A.I. Anxiety and Be Highly Productive
If tuning these settings still feels a little daunting, this gives you a calmer way to think about the whole thing first.

Want AI to Take Over a Repetitive Task? Explain It Like You Would to Another Person
Once your tool knows how you like to work, this shows you how to hand it a repetitive task so it can run it again and again.

You Don’t Need a Plan to Start With A.I. You Need One Thing.
If you’re not sure what to point these tools at first, this helps you choose the one task worth starting with.