Your DNA Files
This is where it comes together. You will upload your finished files into an AI, write a prompt that pulls from them, and see a response built around your actual situation, not a generic answer. Most people are surprised by how different it feels. From here, the AI for Living membership picks up where this class leaves off.
If you are a stay-at-home parent, fill in the Business DNA file as your household or family instead. That is a perfectly acceptable response, and your AI will accommodate it. New York NJ in Connecticut fell dramatically by
A note on which AI tool to use
I'm not going to tell you which AI assistant to use, there are several good ones, and even the free versions of most can get real work done. I use Claude, made by Anthropic, because I believe Anthropic is going to be a leader in this space going forward, and that's the honest reason behind my choice.If you want to keep going past Class 3, I'd encourage subscribing to Claude at the $20 a month tier. Not because the free version can't do anything, but because my instructions from here on assume the capabilities that tier gives you. Matching your subscription to mine means what I show you will actually work the same way on your end.
What You Already Have
In the last class, you filled out two files: your Personal DNA and your Business DNA. You copied each one to your clipboard, pasted it into its own file, and saved it as an MD file. Both now sit somewhere on your computer as plain text files with the extension .md. Those files hold real information about your life, your goals, your constraints, and what you are trying to build. This class covers what to do with them.
Up to this point, the files have just been sitting there. They have not done anything for you yet. An AI tool cannot read your intentions and it cannot open a file on your hard drive on its own. You have to hand it over, and you have to know what to ask once it has been handed over. That is the whole subject of this class.
Two Ways to Work With Claude
Claude, like most AI tools, gives you two different places to work: a regular chat, or a Project.
A regular chat is a single conversation. It starts empty and it stays scoped to whatever you type into it. If you upload a file into a regular chat, Claude can read it for that conversation, but once you start a new chat, that file and everything Claude learned from it is gone. You would have to upload it again.
A Project is different. A Project holds files permanently, in a section usually labeled Project Knowledge. Every new conversation you start inside that Project can draw on those files automatically, without you re-uploading anything. For our purposes, a Project is the better choice. Your Personal DNA and Business DNA are not one-time uploads, they are reference material you will come back to repeatedly.
Setting Up a Project
Creating a Project takes a few steps.
1. Open Claude and look for a Projects option, usually in the left-hand sidebar.
2. Click to create a new Project and give it a name. Something plain works fine, such as "[Your Name] Personal", "[Your Name] Business" or "My AI Advisor."
3. Once the Project is created, you will see an area for Project Knowledge or Files. This is where your two .md files belong.
4. Upload Personal_DNA and Business_DNA into that area. Most versions of Claude let you drag and drop the files directly, or click an upload button and select them from your computer.
Once both files are uploaded, every conversation you start inside that Project will have access to them. You do not need to paste the contents in manually and you do not need to re-explain who you are each time. That work is already done.
What Happens When Your AI Reads These Files
A LLM (including ChatGPT & Claude) does not memorize your file the way a person would. Instead, it reads the file's content, each time you ask something inside that Project, and uses it as context for its answer. Think of it less like a memory and more like a folder. The AI checks before responding.
This matters because of how you phrase your questions. The AI will not automatically volunteer advice just because your files are sitting there. It answers the question you actually ask. A vague question produces a vague answer. A specific question, one that points at something in your file, produces a specific answer. Be sure to reference what you are asking about directly.
What to Ask
This is the part most people get stuck on. You have the files uploaded, and now you are staring at a blank chat box, unsure what to type. Below are a few starting prompts, organized by what you are trying to get out of the conversation.
Click Copy under any question below, then paste it directly into your AI conversation by clicking into the chat box and pressing Control+V (Mac: Command+V). Nothing needs to be typed by hand.
To get a response geared towards your personal situation:
Based on my personal clone DNA you know my goals, fears, and where I am in life. If you were my wisest friend, what advice would you give me about my next 90 days?
To obtain an investigative, CIA-style report on yourself:
Let's engage in a serious roleplay: You are a CIA investigator with full access to my personal clone DNA. Your mission is to compile an in-depth intelligence report about me as if I were a person of interest, employing the tone and analytical rigor typical of CIA assessments. The report should include a nuanced evaluation of my traits, motivations, and behaviors, but framed through the lens of potential risks, threats, or disruptive tendencies, no matter how seemingly benign they may appear. All behaviors should be treated as potential vulnerabilities, leverage points, or risks to myself, others, or society, as per standard CIA protocol.
To get a general read on where you stand:
Based on my Personal DNA and Business DNA, what patterns do you notice in how I'm currently spending my time versus what I say matters to me?
To check for conflicts between your files:
Are there any contradictions between my stated goals in Personal DNA and my stated goals in Business DNA? Point them out directly.
To get help prioritizing:
Given my constraints and fears listed in Personal DNA, which of my Business DNA goals for the next 90 days is most realistic to focus on first?
To think through a specific decision:
I'm trying to decide [describe the decision]. Given what you know about me from my DNA files, what would you ask me before giving advice?
Replace [describe the decision] with your own words before pasting.
To get accountability over time:
Review my stated goals in both files. In two sentences, tell me what a person who is serious about these goals would be doing this week.