Welcome to Day 1 of the challenge.
Yesterday was set up. Today we use the AI you installed. About seven minutes. The single most foundational shift in how you brief AI for anything from here on.
Today’s task is maybe something you’re already doing. However, being specific in briefing, and doing it the correct way, is at the heart of building a great, personalised AI system.
You can watch along here as I demo the challenge - or feel free to read on below.
A word before we start
This challenge isn’t about getting AI to write things for you. Everything we do over the next 30 days assumes you stay the author. AI is the colleague. The researcher. The editor. The thinking partner who pushes back when you’re being lazy. Never the voice that replaces yours.
The move: brief AI like a colleague (TCCA)
Most of us, when we want feedback on something we’ve written, send it to a colleague with a casual “what do you think?”. They come back with “yeah, looks great.” Polite. Useless. They didn’t want to hurt our feelings. They probably haven’t really read it.
When we ask AI the same way, we get the same answer. “Great post! Consider adding more emotional resonance.” Useless in a different voice.
A brilliant editor wouldn’t do that. They’d quote the weakest line back to you and tell you why it’s the weakest. They’d say “paragraph three is hedging” and they’d name the hedge.
The cleanest mental model for AI: treat it like a new hire on Day One. They’re capable, but they don’t know your business, your audience, what you tried last quarter, or what NOT to do. They need context. They need constraints. And the good ones ask questions before they start.
TCCA is the structure that gets AI to do that.
Four pillars, plus one line that does most of the heavy lifting.
This framework was popularised by Sabrina Ramonov, who’s been one of the sharpest voices teaching AI on Instagram and YouTube. I’m sharing it because it’s the cleanest four-line brief I’ve come across, and the “Ask” line is the magic in it.
T. Task What you want done. Specifically.
C. Context What’s true about the situation that matters.
C. Constraints Length. Tone. Format. What NOT to do.
A. Ask “Before you say anything, what do you think the weakest part is? Tell me first, then we’ll discuss.”
The “A” is the line most people skip. It’s the most important one. It flips AI from bluffing praise to honest diagnosis. From producing to thinking with you.
Step by step
You’re going to use TCCA on a real draft you’ve written.
Something that’s been sitting unfixed because you can’t quite say why it isn’t working.
Step 1.
Find one piece of work that we can improve. Here are a few examples of what works:
- A LinkedIn post you drafted but never published
- A paragraph from a board update or strategy doc
- An opening for a keynote you’re shaping
- A reply to a tricky email you’ve been avoiding sending
Real beats hypothetical. Pick the one that’s been bothering you longest.
Step 2.
Open claude.ai in your browser (for this you can use Chat GPT too).
Open two browser tabs, both showing claude.ai.
We’ll feed both tabs the same draft and ask for feedback two different ways.
Step 3.
Make sure Claude Opus is selected in both tabs (model selector at the top of the chat window).
Step 4.
Paste this into Tab 1: (the way most people ask for feedback)
Here’s a draft I’m working on. What do you think?
[Paste your draft below]
Hit Enter.
Don’t read what comes back yet. Switch to Tab 2.
Step 5.
In Tab 2, we will brief AI using TCCA
Paste this, with the bracketed bits filled in for your draft:
I’ve got a draft of [a LinkedIn post / board paper / email / keynote opening] and I know it’s not landing yet, but I can’t put my finger on why. I want your honest read, not your polite one.
Task: Look at this
draft and tell me what’s NOT working. Don’t rewrite it. Tell me what’s weak, what’s missing, where it loses energy, what to cut.
Context: This is for [your audience - be specific: not “marketers”, but “CMOs at mid-size B2B companies”]. The point I’m trying to make is [the single sentence underneath the whole thing]. The feeling I want them to walk away with is [defensive / called out / agreeing / curious]. The thing I’m worried about is [what you suspect isn’t landing].
Constraints: Don’t offer me a new draft. Don’t be polite. Don’t say “great post.” If you don’t think the opener is doing its job, say so and quote the specific line. Identify what to cut, what to sharpen, what’s missing.
Ask: Before anything else, tell me what the single weakest part is, quote it back to me. Then list the other 4 or 5 things that aren’t working, also quoting specific lines. Don’t wait for me to ask.
[Paste your draft below]
Hit Enter.
Step 6.
Claude will quote a specific line back to you and tell you why it’s the weakest. Sit with that for a second. Then read the rest of what it says.
Step 7.
Push back where you disagree. “Why is that line worse than this one?” “What about the ending - does it work?” That’s the conversation. You stay the author. AI is your honest reader.
Step 8.
Switch back to Tab 1. Read what AI gave you cold.
What you should notice
Tab 1: AI was polite. It told you the post was “thought-provoking.” It suggested “adding more concrete examples.” The feedback was vague enough that you could agree without changing a thing. This is what a colleague who didn’t want to hurt your feelings would say.
Tab 2: AI was honest. It quoted a specific line. It named the weakness. It told you what to cut. It didn’t write you a new draft. It made you a sharper reader of your own work.
That’s the difference between AI as a polite typing tool and AI as an honest editor.
The shift takes one line: “tell me what the weakest part is, quote it back to me.”
Same framework, three jobs
The critique exercise you just did is one use of TCCA.
The same brief structure can work for other jobs you do all the time too, and keeps you as the author.
Here’s two examples..
Job 2: Find an angle worth writing from.
You’ve got a topic but no point of view yet. Use TCCA the same way, with one shift in the Task line.
Task: I want to write about [topic]. Help me find some interesting angles worth writing from.
Context: [your perspective on it, your audience, what’s already been said about this in the obvious places].
Constraints: Don’t write the piece. Suggest 5 angles I could take. Each one should be sharp enough that only I could write it, because of [my specific background, access, or perspective].
Ask: Before suggesting angles, ask me what I’m actually trying to say underneath the topic.
Use this when you know you want to write about something but haven’t found the angle yet.
Job 3: Get a sharper opening for something you’re about to write.
You haven’t drafted yet. You’re stuck on how to start. TCCA the same way, Task line shifted again.
Task: Help me find the sharpest opening for [piece]. Not a full draft. The angle I open from.
Context: [who it’s for, what they already know, what they’re sceptical about, what they actually need to walk away believing].
Constraints: Don’t write the whole thing. One paragraph at a time. No marketing language.
Ask: Before you suggest anything, ask me three to five clarifying questions to make sure the opening you suggest is the right one. Then offer me two or three angles I could open with, and let me pick.
Use this when the blank page is the problem.
One framework. Multiple uses. TCCA.
The Task line shifts. The Ask line stays. AI moves between honest editor, thinking partner, and brainstorming colleague. You stay the author across all three.
Try TCCA on something else today.
Notice how often AI lands on a specific, named weakness you’d been working around.
The most important thing about briefing AI properly: the skill outlasts any one tool.
TCCA works in Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, whatever ships next. You’re not learning a Claude trick. You’re learning how to brief AI properly. The brief is yours forever, regardless of which tool you end up using.
Where this is heading
Today was the easy step. Crucial, but easy. Briefing AI properly is the foundation everything else stands on, and getting specific is what makes any of this work.
We’ll keep coming back to that principle. Especially when we write Skill files together - reusable instructions Claude remembers forever, personalised to you, your work, the way you sound. That’s when this stops being prompts and starts becoming a system. One day at a time. We’re building toward it.
Tomorrow on Switched On
Day 2: Tell Claude who you are - the easy step that quietly powers the rest of the challenge.
Five to ten minutes. No install. No new tools. One short paragraph in Claude’s Settings, your work, your audience, how you want answers, what you never want Claude to say.
Save it. Open a new chat. Notice Claude already knows.
From tomorrow, every TCCA brief you write lands sharper because Claude knows you.
We come back to a deeper version of this later. But Day 2 is the foundation, and it takes ten minutes.
Got a friend or a colleague who this might be useful for? Send her to nishma.co/30daychallenge
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