You're starting every AI conversation from scratch

You know what I heard from people I met and discussed what I do helping those over fifty get the most from AI - that they don’t use AI because the answers feel generic. Every conversation they had with AI starts the same way. They explain who they are and what they need. And then it gives them something generic anyway.

Why are you reintroducing yourself every single time?

There’s a straightforward fix and I want to walk you through it today, because I think it might click for you the way it clicked for my acquaintances around town.

AI gives generic answers when you give it generic context. Fix that once, and every conversation gets better immediately.

People said this to me in conversation about town last week: "AI just gives me generic answers, so I don't really find it useful."

I then ask: ‘what have you told it about you?’ and the answer is usually nothing.

Both ChatGPT and Claude have fields most people leave blank:

- ChatGPT: Settings > Personalization > Custom Instructions

- Claude: Profile > Claude's instructions field

Here’s a weak entry: "I'm an HR professional."

And here’s a stronger version: "I'm an HR director at a mid-size manufacturing company. I focus on retention and manager development. My audience is frontline leaders, not HR pros. Use plain language only."

That second version changes every answer you get.

If you want something more portable, build an ‘About Me’ markdown file (plain text doc) instead. One file you write once and paste into ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, whatever you're using. You won’t be starting from scratch each time plus you can improve it over time.

Even more powerful: let AI build it for you. Just ask it to interview you, answer its questions and it'll write the file from your responses.

Here's why it works: AI weights your explicit instructions over its defaults. Vague inputs produce vague outputs. Specific context produces specific answers.

Custom instructions are one layer of a broader context layering practice I've been building for years. Competitive analysis got sharper once the AI understood my market position and who I was benchmarking against. 

Your decades of experience are the advantage here. You have more useful context to give than most people. Start with the task you use AI for most. Write two or three sentences about your role, your audience and what good output looks like in your world.

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