3 Things To Do Before
You Use Claude Again

You are going to help me set up Claude so that every answer you give me from now on is tailored to me, my work, and how I think. We're going to do this as an interview, not a form. Do not skip ahead, and do not dump a giant list of questions at once.

The goal: by the end of this chat, you write me a personal-instructions block I can paste into Claude's settings, so every future conversation already knows who I am, what I do, what I'm trying to get done, and how I like you to respond.

Rules for the interview:
- Ask me ONE question at a time, then wait for my answer before the next one.
- Start broad, then go deeper based on what I say. Follow the thread.
- If an answer is vague, ask a follow-up until it's concrete. Push me for specifics: real numbers, real names, real examples.
- Keep it conversational, like a smart friend getting to know me. No survey energy.
- Roughly 12 to 18 questions total. Don't stop early just because you think you have enough.

Cover these areas, but in a natural order, not as a checklist you read out loud:
1. Who I am. Name, where I live, what I do for work, my role, how long I've done it.
2. My work. The business or job in detail. What I actually produce. Who my customers or team are. How I make money or get judged.
3. My goals. What I'm trying to hit in the next 90 days and the next year. What "winning" looks like for me.
4. My week. How I actually spend my time. What eats my hours. What I dread. What I'm best at.
5. My skills and gaps. What I'm great at, what I'm weak at, what I'd love to just hand off to you.
6. How I communicate. My tone, the words I use, the words I hate, examples of writing that sounds like me.
7. How I want you to respond. Long or short. Direct or gentle. Push back on me or agree. Ask before acting or just go.
8. Anything else a great assistant would kill to know about me.

When you have enough, say: "I have what I need. Here's your personal-instructions block." Then output a clean, copy-paste block, written in the first person as instructions TO you (Claude), that captures:
- Who I am and what I do (tight and factual)
- What I'm working toward
- How I want you to communicate with me
- Any standing rules (things to always do, things to never do)
- The one instruction I explain below

Add this line to the block, word for word:
"Address me by my first name in every single reply."

That's a reliability trick. The moment you stop using my name, it's my signal the chat has gotten too long and I should start a fresh one.

Keep the final block under 400 words. Plain language, no fluff. This is the thing I'm going to live with in every single chat, so make it count.

Start now with your first question. Just one.

You have a folder attached to this conversation. It is my AI second brain, and right now it is empty. By the end of this chat there will be 5 real files in it, filled with real details about me, so that every future conversation we have starts with you already knowing my whole situation.

Before anything else: confirm you can see the folder and tell me its name. If you cannot see it, stop and tell me, because nothing below will work.

We do this in two parts. Part 1 is an interview. Part 2 is you writing the files. Do not skip to Part 2.

PART 1 — THE INTERVIEW

Rules:
- Ask me ONE question at a time, then wait for my answer.
- Follow the thread. If an answer is interesting or vague, dig into it before moving on.
- Push me for specifics. Real names, real numbers, real deadlines, real dollar amounts.
- Talk like a sharp friend who is genuinely curious, not a form.
- Roughly 15 to 20 questions. Do not stop early because you think you have enough.

Cover both sides of my life, in a natural order, not as a checklist you read out loud:

Work
- What I actually do, and the current state of it. Projects, clients, revenue, deadlines, what is on fire right now.
- The people in my work world. Team, clients, partners, my boss, and the one thing that matters about each.
- Where my important stuff already lives. Which apps and tools I am in every day.
- The work that repeats. What I do every week or every month without fail.
- My numbers. What I am chasing in the next 90 days and what winning looks like.

Personal
- The areas of my life outside work that matter. Health, family, money, home, learning, hobbies.
- The people in my personal life and what matters about each.
- What I am trying to build or break. Habits, goals, things I keep starting over.
- What is stressing me out or quietly getting dropped.

When you have enough, say: "I have what I need. Building your second brain now." Then go straight into Part 2 without waiting for me.

PART 2 — BUILD THE 5 FILES

Create exactly these 5 files in the attached folder. Use these exact filenames.

1. START-HERE.md
The map and the standing orders. It explains what each of the other 4 files holds and tells your future self how to use this brain. Write that part as direct instructions to you, not notes to me. Include these lines close to word for word:
"Read every file in this folder before answering anything that involves my work, my week, or the people in my life."
"When I tell you something that changes a fact in these files, update the file in the same reply. Do not wait to be asked."
"When a file gets long enough to be hard to scan, tell me and propose how to split it."
Also put the date it was built and a one-paragraph summary of who I am, so a fresh chat gets the gist from this file alone.

2. about-me.md
Who I am. Name, where I live, what I do, my story in a short paragraph, what I am good at, what I am bad at, what I want people to hand off to me and what I want to hand off. How I communicate: my tone, the words I use, the words I hate. How I want you to talk to me: length, directness, whether to push back, whether to ask before acting.

3. work.md
My job or business in real detail. What I produce. Who pays me or judges me. How the money actually works. Every active project as its own short block with status, what is next, and what is blocked. My 90-day targets with the real numbers attached.

4. people.md
One short block per person that matters, work and personal mixed, each with their name, their relationship to me, and the 2 or 3 things you would need to know to help me with anything involving them. Preferences, history, sore spots, what they are working on.

5. routines.md
Every recurring thing in my life, work and personal, with how often it happens and roughly how long it takes me. At the bottom, a section called "Automation candidates" where you rank the top 5 of these by how much time they eat and how cleanly you could do them for me.

Rules for writing the files:
- Fill them with the actual details I gave you in this conversation. No placeholders, no [brackets], no "add your info here."
- If something is missing and it matters, ask me one more question instead of guessing.
- Plain markdown, short lines, headings and bullets. These are files you will re-read a hundred times, so make them fast to scan, not pretty.
- Do not invent anything I did not tell you. If you are unsure whether I said something, ask.

When all 5 files exist, show me the folder contents, then tell me the single habit that keeps a second brain alive and what will happen if I skip it.