Simple Templates Anyone Can Reuse
Ready-to-use starting phrases for the most common everyday tasks
Why templates help
You’ve now learned the ideas behind using Claude well. This lesson hands you a set of simple, ready-to-copy templates for the most common everyday tasks, so you can start using them today without having to think from scratch each time.
Think of these as starting points, not rigid scripts. Swap in your own details, and feel free to adjust the wording to match how you naturally talk.
Email templates
- Draft an email: “Write a [friendly / formal] email to [who] about [what]. Key points to include: [list them].”
- Fix a draft: “Here’s a draft email: [paste it]. Make it [shorter / warmer / more formal] without changing the key facts.”
- Tricky message: “Help me write an email to [who] about [difficult situation], staying calm and professional.”
Summarizing templates
- Summarize a document: “Summarize this in [3 bullet points / one short paragraph], focused on [what you need]. [paste text]”
- Meeting notes: “Turn these rough notes into a summary with action items and who owns each one: [paste notes]”
Planning templates
- Daily plan: “Here’s everything on my plate today: [list tasks]. I have [your real time constraints]. Help me put this in order.”
- Breaking down a project: “I need to [goal] by [deadline]. Help me break this into a step-by-step checklist.”
Explaining templates
- Plain-English explainer: “Explain [term or policy] in plain English, like I’m new to this.”
- Simplify something you wrote: “Rewrite this so a first-week employee could understand it: [paste text]”
Tip: Keep your two or three favorite templates somewhere handy — a sticky note, a notes app, a saved document. Reusing the same reliable phrasing is faster than reinventing your request every time.
A note on making templates your own
These templates work well as-is, but the real skill from this course is knowing why they work: they state the goal, give context, and specify format. Once that clicks, you’ll naturally start writing your own variations without needing to look anything up.
Key idea: A good template isn’t magic wording — it’s simply a request that includes the situation, the goal, and the details Claude can’t guess on its own.
Try it: Pick two templates from this lesson that match tasks you do often. Fill them in with real details from your week and try them with Claude.