ChatGPT has a setting called Personalization with two fields in it: Custom Instructions and More About You. Fill them in with what your business is and how you want answers written, and ChatGPT stops handing you the safe, average advice it gives everyone. It takes a few minutes, once, and it applies to every new chat after that.
The reason you get fluff is that ChatGPT is built for a mass audience. It answers cautiously, for readers with every level of knowledge, so it lands on the middle of the road: “stay consistent”, “prioritize tasks”, a neutral list with polite padding. It is not being lazy. It has no idea who you are. The two fields are where you tell it, instead of retyping your background and your preferred format at the top of every prompt.
Three steps:
- Click your profile icon at the bottom left, then Settings, then Personalization.
- In More About You, write your context: what your business does, who your customers are, what you are deciding on.
- In Custom Instructions, write your constraints. Things like “give me a definitive recommendation”, “stay away from generic advice and ground it on my background”, “keep the introduction short”.
The same screen has quick presets for style and tone. They do not fundamentally change the answers unless those two fields are filled in.
The writer tested it with one question, whether to buy a mid range phone now or wait six months. Before, he got a contradictory answer: wait, but do not wait too long, padded with device listings. After, he got a clear recommendation in the second sentence and a closing set of targeted questions, because his instructions asked for that format. Try the same with a decision you actually face this week, a software subscription or a piece of equipment, and compare.
One thing to know: the change applies only to new conversations. Threads you already have open will keep answering with the settings they were created under.
