Tips from Nicole
Things most people don’t know about Claude
Field-tested tips that separate people who get value out of Claude from people who don’t. Start with the foundations, layer in daily habits, then add the tools that make it stick.
Foundations
Get the foundation right
Almost every Claude problem traces back to something in this list. Fix these first.
01
Your global instructions and project instructions are different things
Global instructions = how Claude talks to you everywhere (tone, banned phrases, formatting). Project instructions = the job description for that specific project. Most people set one and skip the other — or put everything in the wrong place.
02
You need Claude Desktop, not just the browser
Browser Claude is limited. Claude Desktop is where MCP connections (Google Drive, Asana, Gmail) actually work reliably, where Computer Use lives, and where you can run scheduled tasks. If you've been frustrated by connectors not working — this is probably why.
03
File naming matters more than you think
Claude scans file names before deciding whether to read a file. A file called “brand-voice-guidelines.md” gets used. A file called “doc-final-v3-FINAL.docx” gets ignored. Rename your files before uploading them to a Project.
04
Skills work across every project — not just the one you're in
Once a skill is installed in Settings, it's available everywhere. You build it once, use it in any project, forever.
05
Use forward-slash commands to trigger skills reliably
Skills don't always auto-trigger from natural language — reliability is about 60%. Typing /morning or /check-in works every time. Build the habit.
06
Give Claude a banned-word list
In your global instructions, tell Claude what not to say. (“Never use the words ‘brilliant,’ ‘certainly,’ or ‘at the end of the day.’”) Your outputs will immediately feel less like AI.
Daily Habits
How to actually work with it
Setup gets you started. Habits are what compound. Build these into your day.
07
Ask Claude what it can do before you ask it to do anything
Open a project and type: “What tools, MCPs, and skills do you have access to right now?” Claude will tell you exactly what's connected and what isn't. Most people prompt blind and wonder why Claude can't pull from their Google Drive — when the real answer is that the connector was never turned on.
08
Ask Claude to audit its own setup
Type: “Read my project instructions. What's unclear, redundant, or missing?” This is one of the highest-leverage things you can do and most people never try it.
09
Name your threads and stay in them while you can
Threads don't talk to each other. A new chat can't see your old chats unless you explicitly point Claude at one. Rename threads so you can find them later, and stay in the same one while you're working on a topic — until output starts to degrade (see the next tip).
10
When output gets fuzzy, start a fresh chat
Long conversations degrade. Your project instructions and files reload every new chat — you lose nothing by starting fresh. If Claude starts repeating itself or going vague, that's your cue.
Tools & Tactics
What I use alongside Claude
Specific moves and external tools that pair with Claude. Each one removes a friction point you didn’t know you had.
11
Perfect in chat first, then automate
Build and iterate your skill inside a Claude.ai chat until the output is exactly right. Then — and only then — move it to Cowork to run on a schedule. Automating a broken skill just gets you bad output automatically.
12
Format as markdown, then paste into docs.new
End any prompt with “format as Markdown.” Open docs.new, right-click → “Paste from Markdown” — headings, lists, and formatting all come through perfectly. No more reformatting in Google Docs.
13
Transcribe every meeting and feed it back to Claude
Your strategic adviser project gets exponentially better when it has context from your actual conversations. Granola records and transcribes every meeting, and now plugs into Claude via MCP — so Claude can reference any call you've had without you re-explaining what happened. Set it up once and stop typing meeting notes.
Try Granola →14
Stop typing. You speak 4× faster than you type.
Average typing speed: 45 words per minute. Average speaking speed: 220. Wispr Flow turns voice into clean, punctuated text everywhere — Claude, Docs, email, Slack. If you've tried voice input before and it was rough, this generation actually works. It's the unlock for talking to Claude constantly without it feeling like effort.
Try Wispr Flow →Want help applying these?
In a 90-minute Quick Start 1:1, we meet you where you are — whether you’re new to Claude or already deep in it — and build your system together so you understand every piece and can keep going on your own.
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