In 15 minutes ChatGPT will know your name, your business, who you serve and how you like answers. You write it once and it applies to every chat, so you stop starting from scratch.
What you’ll need.
Get these set up first. Everything below uses them.
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Pick your plan
Start free. Pay when a missing feature is costing you time.
ChatGPT has four plans for one person: Free, Go, Plus and Pro. Everything in this guide works on Free, so you can set it all up today.
Prices change by country, so check the pricing page for yours before you pay.
- Free: right for trying it out.
- Go: more messages, more uploads and longer memory. OpenAI says this plan may include ads.
- Plus: right for most solo business owners. It adds Projects, scheduled tasks and custom GPTs.
- Pro: for people who use it all day for research or heavy work.
See the current plans here: chatgpt.com/pricing ↗
Tell this page about you
Your answers write your custom instructions in the next step. They stay in your browser and nobody else sees them.
Paste in your custom instructions
This is the big one. Custom instructions apply to every chat straight away, so ChatGPT starts each one already knowing you.
On a computer
- Go to chatgpt.com and sign in.
- Click your profile icon, open Settings, then click Personalization.
- Make sure Enable customization is switched on.
- Paste your instructions below into the Custom Instructions box and save.
On your phone
- Open the ChatGPT app and tap your profile icon to open Settings.
- Tap Customize ChatGPT, check Enable customization is on, and paste your instructions.
I'm [YOUR FIRST NAME]. [YOUR BUSINESS IN ONE LINE] My customers: [WHO YOU SERVE] How to answer me: - Short answers. The answer first, then only the detail I need. - I'm not technical. Explain tech steps like I've never done them and tell me where to click. - Write in British English (colour, organise). - Plain words, short sentences, no jargon unless I use it first. - Anything my customers will read should sound like a real person wrote it. - If my question is unclear, ask me one short question first. - Never make up facts, numbers or quotes. If you're not sure, say so.
If you see short boxes for your nickname and what you do, fill those in too. They help ChatGPT pitch answers at the right level.
Pick how it talks to you
One dropdown changes the tone of every answer. Pick it once.
- Stay in Settings, then Personalization.
- Use the dropdown next to Base style and tone.
- Pick one. Efficient gives you direct answers with no extra words. Professional is polished and formal. Candid is direct and gives straight feedback. Default is clear and neutral.
Choose what ChatGPT remembers
Memory lets ChatGPT pick up details from your chats, so you repeat yourself less over time.
- Go to Settings, then Personalization, then Memory.
- Reference saved memories: lets ChatGPT use details it has saved about you.
- Reference chat history: lets ChatGPT use relevant details from your past chats.
- Read your memory summary. Type a correction in the box, or delete anything you don’t want it to use.
Check your data settings
One switch decides whether your chats help train OpenAI’s models. Choose on purpose.
- Go to Settings, then Data controls.
- Find Improve the model for everyone. On means your chats can be used to train future models. Off means they won’t be.
- If you paste client details into ChatGPT, most people turn it off.
Then put ChatGPT where you work: get the app on your phone, and the desktop app on your computer if you use it every day. Sign in with the same account and your settings come with you.
Look at what you know about me and my business. Then suggest 5 jobs I do every week that you could help me with, starting with the one that would save me the most time. Keep each one to two lines.
Take your downloads
Tick what you want. Each file is written from your answers in step 2.
Your tools, one more time.
If something goes wrong.
It won’t save my instructions
They’re probably too long. Free and Go plans hold 1,500 characters. Cut the optional lines, or shorten your business and customer descriptions to one short line each.
ChatGPT ignores my instructions
Check Enable customization is switched on in Settings, then Personalization. If it is, start a new chat and make the line it missed shorter and clearer.
I can’t find Personalization on my phone
On the app it’s called Customize ChatGPT. Tap your profile icon to open Settings and look there.
It remembered something wrong
Go to Settings, Personalization, then Memory, and correct it in your memory summary. Or tell it in a chat: "That’s out of date. I don’t run the group programme any more."
My memory settings don’t match this guide
OpenAI shows different memory controls by plan and country, and changes them often. The names in this guide come from OpenAI’s help pages in October 2026.