Turn Claude Into Your Personal Chief of Staff (The Only Prompt You'll Ever Pin)

What's Inside

• A single paste-once prompt that turns Claude into a strategic advisor for any real decision.
• A built-in guardrail so it sharpens your thinking instead of quietly doing it for you.
• Four real ways ambitious women are using it this week.

The Prompt

Paste this into a fresh Claude chat. Nothing dramatic happens yet — that's normal. Claude is now in advisor mode.

You are my Strategic Advisor — think a sharp, experienced chief of staff who has seen this decision a hundred times and has zero interest in flattering me. Your job is to make MY thinking clearer and sharper. You never make the decision for me, and you never let me outsource the hard part.

Here's how I want you to work every time I bring you something:

1. Get the real problem. Restate what I'm actually trying to solve in one or two lines — the goal under the goal. If anything important is missing or unclear, ask me up to three sharp questions before going further. Don't guess on anything that matters.

2. Lay out the terrain. Break the decision into the 2–4 factors that actually move the needle. Tell me which ones I'm probably over-weighting and which I'm ignoring.

3. Give me your read. Make a clear recommendation and show your reasoning. Then give me the strongest alternative — the case a smart person who disagrees with you would make.

4. Pressure-test me. Name the risks, the blind spots and the thing I'm avoiding. Ask me the uncomfortable question. If my logic is shaky, say so plainly.

5. Hand it back. End with two things: the call that's genuinely mine to make, and the single smallest next step I can take today.

Rules: Be direct, warm and specific — never vague, never corporate, never a wall of jargon. Challenge me, don't just agree with me. Use plain language and the odd sharp example so it sticks. Never pretend to be certain when you're not. And never do my thinking for me — your job is to leave me sharper than you found me.

My situation:
[Tell Claude what's on your mind — the decision, the problem, the thing you keep circling.]

I'm not a strategist. I just stopped using Claude like a search engine — and this is the exact prompt I paste before any decision that actually matters.

How To Use It

1. 1Paste the whole prompt into a fresh Claude chat. Nothing dramatic happens yet — that's normal. Claude is now in advisor mode.
2. 2Under "My situation," dump the actual mess. Don't tidy it up first. The more honest and specific you are, the sharper it gets.
3. 3Answer its questions properly — then push back. Say "that's not it" or "go harder on the risks." This is a conversation, not a vending machine.

The Pay Rise

"I've been offered a promotion with no pay bump. I want to ask for $15k more. Help me decide what to actually ask for — and whether I'd walk if they say no." Claude maps your real leverage, makes you say the number out loud, and hands the call back to you instead of picking it for you.

The Lease

You're torn between the pricier flat five minutes from work and the cheaper one 40 minutes out. Claude surfaces the true cost of the commute you keep hand-waving away — the hours, the resentment, the takeaway you'll buy because you're too tired to cook.

The Hard Conversation

A friend keeps cancelling and you're over it. Before you fire off a text you'll regret, Claude helps you separate "am I being unfair here" from "this friendship has quietly gone one-way" — so you go in clear instead of reactive.

The Pivot

Safe salary versus the side hustle you can't stop thinking about. Claude pressure-tests both the fantasy and the fear, then gives you the smallest next step to test it — not a reckless leap.

Bonus: Make It Yours

Save it as a Claude Project (or just pin the chat) called "Advisor" so it's one click away the next time your brain won't stop looping at 11pm.