Last week, I started a new ten-part series to help you be more confident in using AI.

The first edition was about using the ​ChatGPT o3 reasoning model​, one of the biggest value unlocks. Today, we dive into another hidden gem as we uncover the benefits of customizing ChatGPT.

Personalizing ChatGPT

If I read one more time that “ChatGPT creates generic content,” I’ll…. ask ChatGPT for a clever response. But seriously, the only reason AI is ever generic is because

1) you’re sending generic prompts instead of ​SuperPrompts​, and

2) it simply doesn’t know you well enough yet.

With newly introduced enhanced memory and other customization options, there’s no reason for that second point to be true. ChatGPT can now be personalized with a series of helpful features that turn generic AI into your hyper-personalized ‘everything assistant’:

• Custom instructions
• Memory
• Enhanced memory
• Custom GPTs
• Connectors

Putting these to work means getting work back that is and feels fully personal. Let’s dive into them one by one, so you can set them up (if you want a video tutorial, ​you can find it here​.)

Custom Instructions

Custom Instructions let you provide information that ChatGPT will always remember and consider in every response.

Instead of reminding ChatGPT every time “I’m a CEO of a media company” or “Our Q3 challenge is doubling SQLs”, you can set that once in the instructions – and it will consistently factor it in.

Some ways business leaders customize ChatGPT with this feature include:

• Defining Your Role and Context: You can tell ChatGPT who you are and what you’re working on. A digital marketer ​told​ ChatGPT: “I send 2,000 emails per day” as part of his custom instructions. I explained that “I lead FlexOS, a media, education, and transformation that helps forward-thinking leaders thrive in the new world of work. I focus on the intersection of AI, work, and education, running media, courses, and community to shape how executives and teams adapt.”

• Setting ChatGPT’s Role: Some want an always-on assistant, others may prefer a tough coach. My Custom Instructions are to be “Strategic, fast-thinking, precise, systems-oriented, hypothesis-driven, and context-aware, and never assuming I'm right. Help me see what I don't see, challenge me to continuously improve myself.”

• Setting the Tone and Style: Custom instructions allow setting a preferred writing style or tone for responses, like a certain voice or formality level. For example, a photography business owner’s Instructions ​say​: “I’m a product photographer building a recognizable brand that speaks to my ideal client. Speak to me like a business-savvy creative. Be clear, confident, and strategic.”.
• Guiding Content and Structure: You can instruct how detailed you want answers, or if you prefer bullet lists, etc. ​Lead with AI PRO​ member ​Wyatt Barnett​ has "never, ever use the word 'delve' and make every image 16:9 unless I say otherwise" as his Custom Instruction. Another community member, ​Abhishek Rathi​, prevents hallucinations and poor sources by telling ChatGPT to “provide a rating from 1 - 10, with 1 being the least trustworthy & credible and 10 being the highest trust and most credible answer, backed by source. Show the rating clearly and also include the entire website link of the source.”

A great case study of actively using Custom Instructions is writer Katie Parrott, who effectively ​hired​ ChatGPT as a career coach by using custom instructions so ChatGPT has expertise in her field and behaves like a real coach.

As a result, ChatGPT provides actionable advice, challenges her assumptions, and offers encouragement when appropriate. In her words, “I told it what I needed from a career coach… in a way I’d honestly have a hard time doing to a human.”

Memory

Even beyond Custom Instructions, ChatGPT’s models don't persistently retain your personal information. Within a single, open chat session, it could remember most of the conversation up to a specific limit (known as the ​context window​), and that’s it.

The initial effort to address this was a feature simply called 'Memory'. This system would randomly store pieces of information you shared, which ChatGPT then recalls across all sessions. This spares users from re-introducing themselves or past details every time they start a new chat.

Combined with the Custom Instructions you provided, these additional bits of information about your role, business, and context are helpful to get more tailored responses from ChatGPT.

For instance, it might note that I’m based in the Netherlands and give location-relevant suggestions, like weekend activity recommendations that don’t include "go to Times Square" (a bit of a commute from here).

Two things are critical to using Memory effectively.

First, you can ‘force’ ChatGPT to add something to this list by saying “commit this to memory.” This is helpful to basically expand on your Custom Instructions with more information for ChatGPT to persistently remember.

But more importantly, these Memories are stored in a list, which you can access and edit via the Settings menu (Personalization > Memories > Manage):

Clearing out Memories that aren’t relevant helps improve the responses you get from ChatGPT. A memory could have been created when you were running some research for a client, and not pertain to you.

Look at this list today, and see which irrelevant memories are potentially guiding ChatGPT in providing unhelpful responses.

The Bottom Line: Customizing ChatGPT

Personalizing ChatGPT with these features significantly improves its relevance and usefulness. Instead of generic answers, you get responses in your voice, for your context, and following your preferences.

Custom instructions give ChatGPT a permanent user manual about you, while Memory expands on what ChatGPT learns about you over time, rather than forgetting between chats.

Set up your Custom Instructions today and cull your list of memories to improve how useful ChatGPT is for you.

Then, next week, we’ll dive into additional ways to customize ChatGPT and 10x your outcomes from it. (We should have ChatGPT-5 by then, so that should be interesting!)

If you have a great use case for using these features, reply and share for a chance to be included.

Until then,