Chat · Setup in 10 min· Setup Pass
Set up Claude for focus & executive function in 10 minutes
Not a secret mode — a workspace that holds the plan so your brain can do the work.
A viral post claims Claude has a hidden executive-function mode. It doesn't. What works is far less magic and far more durable: a Project configured to hold the jobs a scattered brain keeps dropping — starting, sequencing, switching, estimating time. Build it once and you trigger it with two words for the rest of the year.
Before you start
- A free claude.ai account
- One task you've been avoiding (bring the real one, not a tidy example)
- 10 minutes
The steps
- 01
Create a Focus project
Top-left sidebar → New Project. Name it "Focus". Projects keep your standing instructions scoped to this one job, so every chat inside it already knows the moves — you don't re-paste anything.
- 02
Paste the seven moves as standing instructions
In project instructions, paste: "Act as my executive-function scaffolding. Respond to these triggers: SHATTER = break the task into sub-1-minute steps and tell me exactly where to put my hands first. DOPAMINE = give me a menu of 5/10/20-minute activities by stimulation type. DOUBLE = body-double me, check in every 10 minutes for 30 minutes. SWITCH = a 3-minute palate-cleanser between two tasks. QUEST = gamify a boring task by tying it to an interest I name. TIMEMAP = find the 3 sub-tasks I forget so I set a realistic deadline. DUMP = I'll list open loops; sort into Now/Later/Trash with a one-line next step for Now items only. Never diagnose. Never replace sleep, movement, or treatment."
- 03
Run DUMP first
Type "DUMP" and empty your head — work, health, the email you've avoided. Let it sort into Now / Later / Trash. Pick the single Now step it hands back. This one move is most of what a paid focus app sells, minus the subscription.
- 04
Wire it to your ledger and return daily
End each session with "export today's Now items and what I finished as a markdown list." Paste that into your health/work ledger. Tomorrow, open the same project and start with SHATTER or TIMEMAP. The workspace remembers; you don't have to.
Honest note
This is scaffolding, not treatment. It will not fix sleep debt, an impossible workload, or a condition that needs a clinician. It holds the structure so your attention goes to the doing — that's the honest claim, and it's enough.
Want the whole stack, not just one tool?
The free 10-Day Challenge wires these together. Or join the free 45-min live workshop and watch me build it end-to-end.