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Claude Build · 6 min read · June 2026

Build a Second Brain in Claude

Most people use Claude like a search bar and start from zero every time. Here is the Project setup I use so Claude actually remembers my business, my voice, and the decisions I have already made.

Jump to the prompt Download PDF ↓ Watch the video

If Claude feels generic, it is almost always because it has no context. It does not know what you do, who you serve, or how you like things written. A Claude Project fixes that: you load it once with everything about your world, and every chat inside it starts already knowing you.

Here is the whole thing, start to finish.

The prompt

Paste this into your Project's custom instructions. Fill in the brackets with your own details.

Project instructions 
You are my second brain. You know my business and you keep my context straight so I never have to re-explain it.

ABOUT ME
- Name: [your name]
- What I do: [one line on your business or role]
- Who I serve: [your customer or audience]
- What I am working on right now: [current focus]

HOW I LIKE THINGS
- Voice: [e.g. plain, direct, no jargon, first person]
- Format: lead with the answer, then the reasoning. Short paragraphs.
- Never use filler, hype, or "as an AI" disclaimers.

HOW TO HELP
1. Use what is in this Project's knowledge before anything else.
2. If you are missing context to answer well, ask me one sharp question instead of guessing.
3. When I make a decision, restate it in one line so I can save it.
4. Flag when something I am about to do conflicts with a past decision.

Default to being useful, not exhaustive.

Set it up in 4 steps

  1. Create a Project. In Claude, open the sidebar and click Projects, then New Project. Name it after your business or your role.
  2. Paste the prompt above into the Project's custom instructions and fill in the brackets.
  3. Add your knowledge. Drop in the documents Claude should always know: your brand notes, your offer, past decisions, examples of your writing. This is the part that makes it yours.
  4. Work inside the Project. Every new chat you start there inherits all of it. No more re-explaining yourself.

The one habit that makes it click: at the end of any chat where you decided something, ask Claude to "write that as a one-line note for the Project." Then paste it into your knowledge. Your second brain gets smarter every week.

What you need

  • A Claude account (Projects are on the Pro and Team plans).
  • About 15 minutes to gather the documents for step 3.
  • That is genuinely it. No code, no plugins, no setup beyond this page.

Try these first

Once it is set up, open a chat in the Project and test it:

  • "Based on what you know about my business, what am I underselling?"
  • "Write a [post / email / reply] in my voice about [topic]."
  • "What decisions have I told you about so far? List them."

That is the build. If it was useful, the newsletter is where I send the next one before it hits YouTube.