You don't need to memorize 100 prompts. You need five patterns you can adapt to any situation.
Most prompt guides give you specific scripts: "Try this prompt for emails" or "Use this template for blog posts." Memorizing 100 templates is brittle — the moment your situation drifts, the templates break. Patterns are different. Five patterns cover ~80% of useful Claude interactions, and you can adapt them to anything.
Here they are, with concrete examples.
Find the 3 weakest spots
Stress-test against a persona
Big goal → concrete tasks
Choose between options
Repurpose for new audience
1. The Critique
Use when: You have a draft and need a second pair of eyes.
The template:
Critique this [thing]. List the 3 biggest weaknesses and
the specific fix for each. Be direct — don't soften.
[paste your work]Why it works: forcing "3 biggest" cuts off Claude's tendency to list 12 nice-to-haves. Forcing "specific fix" eliminates generic feedback. "Don't soften" kills the polite-but-useless mode.
Example use: Cold email drafts. Pricing pages. Job descriptions. PR feedback. Twitter posts before you ship them.
2. The Roleplay
Use when: You need to stress-test your work against a tough audience.
The template:
You are a [skeptical investor / picky customer / harsh editor /
overworked CFO / your hardest-to-please user].
Respond to this [pitch / proposal / draft / email]. Be in character.
[paste your work]Why it works: specific personas force Claude to surface objections you'd never think of yourself. Generic "give me feedback" gives you generic feedback. Roleplay gives you the questions a real reviewer would actually ask.
Example use: Sales pitches. Investor decks. Internal proposals. Any document where convincing a specific archetype matters.
3. The Decomposition
Use when: You have a big vague thing and need a starting point.
The template:
Break this goal down into [5 / N] concrete tasks I can
do [this week / today]. Each task should be specific,
under 2 hours, and clearly move the goal forward.
Goal: [your goal]
Constraints: [time, money, team]Why it works: most procrastination is "I don't know where to start." Decomposition turns "launch a podcast" into a 5-step plan with the first step small enough to do today. You stop staring at the goal and start moving.
Example use: Project plans. Learning paths. Habit formation. Anything that feels overwhelming.
4. The Comparison
Use when: You're choosing between options.
The template:
Compare these [3] options across [criteria].
Recommend one and explain your reasoning. Then tell me what
I'd be giving up by choosing your recommendation.
Options:
- [Option A]: ...
- [Option B]: ...
- [Option C]: ...
Criteria: [cost, time, risk, learning curve, etc.]The "what I'd be giving up" line is the magic. It forces Claude to flag the actual trade-offs instead of just selling you on the winner.
Example use: Tool selection. Framework choices. Hiring candidates. Architecture decisions.
5. The Reframe
Use when: You have content for one audience and need to repurpose for another.
The template:
Rewrite this as if [target audience]. Same information,
different angle. Match their vocabulary, their concerns, their attention span.
[paste original]
Target audience: [who, what they care about]Why it works: most content fails not because the content is bad but because it's pitched wrong. Reframe lets you spin one piece of substance into five formats — long blog → tweet thread → LinkedIn post → newsletter blurb → board update.
Example use: Distribution. Internal docs for external audiences. Cross-functional communication.
The meta-pattern
All five share a common shape: constrain the output before you ask for it.Don't say "help me with this." Say "produce X format, with Y depth, from Z angle." The constraint is what makes Claude useful instead of generic.
You'll start to feel which pattern fits a given moment. Three weeks in, you'll notice you're using them without thinking. That's the goal — not memorization, but fluency.
How to practice this week
Pick the pattern you use least. Try it three times this week on real work. By Friday you'll have a default for the situations that pattern fits. Repeat with each pattern for five weeks — you'll be a noticeably better Claude user by the end.