Stop Using Claude Like Google, Says This Expert

The 7-Move System for Real Claude Leverage

I’ll admit something. For the longest time, I treated AI chat tools like a fancy search box. Open a tab, ask a question, grab the answer, close the tab. Then I came across a post from an AI professional that called out exactly this habit, and it stopped me cold.

The original poster made a claim that stuck with me: most people are getting about 10% of the value out of Claude. Why? Because they’re querying it, not working with it. No context. No continuity. No real output. As the author put it, they’re not using an AI, they’re using a slightly smarter Google.

What I love is that this creator doesn’t come at it from a place of judgment. He openly says he got it wrong too. When he was building, half his team used Claude regularly and still wasn’t seeing the results everyone kept promising. They were prompting well. They just weren’t building anything around the tool.

Once he started building actual systems around it, the output per hour doubled. Then tripled.

That’s the whole shift right there. Not prompting harder. Building systems. The expert covered this across 10 levels, and he shared the part most people skip. Here’s my breakdown of his 7 moves, with a little extra context on why each one matters.

The 7-step system for real AI leverage

1. Choose the right model first. The author’s rule of thumb: Sonnet for fast daily work, Opus for complex reasoning, Claude Code if you’re building, and Research mode when you need deep analysis. Picking the wrong one, he says, is like hiring a surgeon to do admin work. Match the model to the job and you save time before you even start typing.
2. Master your prompt structure. This industry pro lays out a specific order: Role, Goal, Context, Constraints, Output format, Success criteria. In that exact sequence. The better the brief, the better the output, every time. Think of it like handing a new hire a clear task sheet instead of a vague ask.
3. Create Projects. This is where the creator says most people leave serious value on the table. Projects let Claude hold long-term context across sessions. No re-explaining. No repeating yourself. Your clients, your workflows, your voice, all retained between conversations.
4. Build Artifacts. The expert reminds us that Claude isn’t just for answers, it’s for deliverables. Documents, dashboards, SOPs, apps, checklists, even websites. Things that are actually usable and actually shareable, not just text you copy out of a chat window.
5. Connect Memory. Save your brand voice, your goals, your preferences, your work context. The original poster’s point is simple: the more the tool knows about how you operate, the less prompting you have to do over time. It compounds.
6. Build Custom Skills. The author frames this as reusable expertise across content, marketing, business, or engineering. Stop doing the same setup work every session. Build it once, run it forever. That’s the difference between a one-off answer and a repeatable process.
7. Connect your tools. This savvy professional points to hooking up Google Workspace, Notion, Slack, GitHub, CRMs, and internal knowledge bases. The payoff is real-time context, fewer manual tasks, and workflows that actually flow instead of stopping every time you need to copy something over.

Reading through this, the pattern clicked for me. Steps 1 and 2 are about setup and communication. Steps 3 through 5 are about memory and continuity. Steps 6 and 7 are about turning the tool into an actual part of your operation. Each layer builds on the one before it.

Why this matters more than better prompts

The line from the post that I keep coming back to is this one from the creator: the people building real leverage with AI right now aren’t the ones prompting harder. They’re the ones building systems.

I think that’s exactly right, and here’s why it hits. Prompting harder has a ceiling. You can only phrase a question so many ways. But systems compound. A Project you set up today saves you time next week and next month. A custom Skill you build once pays off on every future session. Memory that knows your voice means less typing forever.

If your team is using AI and still not seeing the productivity gains everyone talks about, this is almost certainly the gap. They’re stuck in query mode. One question at a time, no context carrying over, starting from zero every single time.

How to put this to work this week

• Pick one recurring task you do in Claude and turn it into a Project so the context sticks.
• Rewrite your next big prompt using the author’s Role, Goal, Context, Constraints, Output, Success order.
• Feed Memory a short note about your brand voice and goals, then watch how much less you have to explain.
• Connect one tool you already live in, whether that’s your docs, your notes app, or your repo.

You don’t have to do all seven at once. The mind behind this post basically says: stop querying, start building. Even one of these moves shifts you out of search-engine mode.

This is just my breakdown of the highlights. The original poster goes deeper on each level, so check out the full LinkedIn post for the complete walkthrough. And if you know someone on your team who’s still stuck in query mode, pass it along. It might change how they work this week.