Part 1 — Understanding Claude
Claude is an AI assistant made by a company called Anthropic. It's trained on a massive amount of text — books, articles, conversations — so it can write, explain, plan, analyze, and talk through almost anything with you.
Think of it like a patient, well-read friend who's always available, never judges you, and genuinely tries to help. Unlike Google, it doesn't hand you links — it thinks through your question and responds in full, useful sentences.
A conversational AI you talk to like a person. It writes, thinks, plans, and edits with you.
Not a search engine. Not a database. Not always right. Not a replacement for professionals.
It doesn't browse the live internet — its knowledge has a cutoff date. It can be confidently wrong. Always verify anything medical, legal, or financial. Outside of Projects, it doesn't remember previous conversations. Every new chat is a clean slate.
Claude comes in different versions called "models." Anthropic names them after literary forms. Each one is a tradeoff between speed and intelligence — think of it like espresso, a regular coffee, or a full French press.
Fast, smart, great for everyday tasks — writing, planning, emails, drafts, brainstorming. Use this 90% of the time.
Slower but more powerful. Best for complex analysis, long documents, or nuanced reasoning. Use when Sonnet feels shallow.
The fastest, lightest model — great for simple tasks, quick questions, or when speed matters more than depth.
Switch models via the dropdown at the top of any chat. Start with Sonnet — it handles most things beautifully. Numbers after the name (e.g. Claude 3.7 Sonnet) indicate the generation — higher = newer and smarter.
The way you ask matters enormously. Claude does its best work when you give it context, a clear task, and tell it what you want back.
The formula: who you are + what you need + any constraints.
Give me dinner ideas
I'm a mom with 20 minutes and a tired toddler. I have ground turkey, pasta, and pantry staples. Give me 3 quick dinners — max 5 ingredients, nothing spicy.
Part 2 — Setting things up
Every conversation with Claude is a "chat." Each chat is its own bubble — Claude reads everything in that conversation, but starts fresh in a new one (unless you're in a Project).
Click the pencil icon or "New chat" in the left sidebar.
Type your message and hit Enter or the send button.
Keep going — Claude remembers everything within that one conversation.
Your old chats are saved in the sidebar — click any of them to continue.
If Claude goes off track mid-conversation, sometimes it's faster to just start a fresh chat. You can rename chats by clicking the title — helpful when you have many going at once.
A Project is a dedicated folder where Claude remembers your context across every conversation inside it. Think of it as hiring a dedicated assistant for a specific area of your life — your business, a client, a course, a goal.
In the left sidebar, find "Projects" and click "New Project."
Give it a name — "AI Consulting," "Moms Build AI," "Europe Trip," etc.
Add a Project instruction — tell Claude who you are and what this project is about. Every chat inside starts with that context loaded.
Upload any documents you want Claude to always reference (your bio, a brief, a plan).
Start chatting inside the project — Claude now carries your context automatically.
"I'm a self-employed AI consultant and founder of Moms Build AI, a community for mothers learning AI. I run a course called Build Like a Mom and advise early-stage AI startups. Keep responses concise and practical. Prefer bullet points for action items. Plain language over jargon."
The project instruction is like a permanent sticky note on Claude's desk — it reads it every time you chat. Create one project per area of life: one for your business, one per client, one for personal goals.
An input document is anything you hand Claude to read and work with — a PDF, pasted notes, a draft email, a proposal, a job description. Once Claude has it, it can summarize, edit, answer questions about it, or use it to write something new.
Click the paperclip icon in the message box to upload a file (PDF, Word doc, image, etc.).
Or paste text directly into the chat with a clear instruction: "Here's my draft — please edit for clarity and tone."
Inside a Project, upload documents to the Project itself — Claude will have them available in every chat automatically.
Your bio, a proposal, a client brief, meeting notes, a job description, a business plan draft.
Summarize, rewrite, edit, extract key points, answer questions, or use it to draft something new.
Part 3 — Getting more out of it
Claude has real, intentional limits. Knowing them upfront saves frustration.
Claude is an incredible thinking partner, not an oracle. Use it to draft, plan, and think. Verify before acting on anything consequential.
Draft the awkward message — to the school, the contractor, the in-law, the pediatrician. Paste the context and let Claude write the first version.
Decode confusing things — "explain this diagnosis in plain English" or "what does this legal notice actually mean?"
Plan faster — birthday parties, Europe trips, meal plans, business launches. Claude is a world-class brainstormer.
Work smarter — polish a pitch, prep for a hard conversation, write your bio, summarize a long report.
Think out loud — Claude is a non-judgmental sounding board when you need to process a decision or situation.
The fastest way to get good at this is just to use it. Here are three things to try this week.
Quick reference — screenshot this
Keep this somewhere easy to find for your first few weeks.
| When you want to… | Do this |
|---|---|
| Use Sonnet | Writing, planning, drafts — basically always. It handles 90% of tasks beautifully. |
| Use Opus | Deep analysis, complex reasoning, or when Sonnet feels too surface-level. |
| Use a Project | You want Claude to remember your context across multiple conversations. |
| Upload a document | You have raw material — notes, a draft, a PDF — for Claude to work with. |
| Add context | "I'm a freelance AI consultant and mom of a toddler..." |
| Set the tone | "Friendly and casual" or "Professional and concise" |
| Set a format | "3 bullets" / "one paragraph max" / "as a table" |
| Refine the answer | "Shorter" / "more direct" / "try a different angle" |
You finished all 9 modules.
You now know more about Claude than most people who use it every day. The only thing left is to actually use it — and that's the fun part.
Go build something. We're rooting for you.
Follow along for more resources, prompts, and tools built for moms who are doing all of it.
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