Stop retyping your editing rules into AI every time. Ten minutes once means you never explain your writing standards to AI again.
1. Write down your editing rules
List the 4 or 5 things you always fix in your own writing, one line each. For example: cut sentences over 20 words, replace passive voice with active, remove jargon like ‘synergy’ or ‘going forward’, keep paragraphs to 3 sentences. Keep the list short enough that you’d actually remember it.
2. Open your assistant’s custom instructions
Every major AI tool has a place for standing instructions that apply to every chat, not just one. In ChatGPT it’s Settings > Personalization > Custom Instructions. In Claude it’s Settings > Profile > Custom Instructions, or a Project’s instructions field. In Gemini it’s Saved Info under settings.
3. Save the rules as a standing order
Write it like a permanent instruction, not a one-time ask: ‘Whenever I paste a draft and ask you to edit it, apply these rules without me repeating them: [your list]. Show me what you changed in brackets.’ Save it and close the settings.
4. Test it on an old draft
Paste something you already edited by hand last month and ask for an edit. Check whether it caught the same things you fixed yourself. If it missed something, that’s a rule you forgot to write down.
5. Fix the rule, not your request
When it misses something or changes your voice too much, go back into that same instruction and adjust it there. Never start typing new notes every session, fix the standing rule once so it holds for every future draft.
A worked example
A line from a client email draft before any edit.
Before
We are of the opinion that there might be potential scope for a prospective collaboration going forward, pending further discussion on both sides.
After
We’d like to explore working together. Let’s discuss details next week.
Three ways to bend it
For status updates
Add a rule that strips hedging words like ‘I think’ and ‘maybe’ from status reports, so every weekly update reads confident instead of unsure, without you catching it line by line each week.
For sales drafts
Add a rule that moves the client benefit to the first sentence of every paragraph instead of opening with features, so your assistant restructures pitches the same way every time instead of you reordering them yourself.
For student or academic writing
Add a rule that flags any sentence missing a citation and standardises reference format, so drafts come back consistent without you proofreading formatting by hand before every submission.
When it goes wrong
It keeps going back to its old habits
Check the instruction actually saved in your settings page, not just typed into one chat. A rule typed into a single conversation disappears when that chat ends, the standing instruction has to live in settings.
It edits my voice away and sounds robotic
Add one more line to the rule: keep my word choices and phrasing where possible, only fix structure, grammar and length, not style. That usually fixes it.
It misses things on very long drafts
Break the draft into sections before pasting, or add a reminder at the top of the draft itself asking it to apply your standing rules.
When not to use this
This will not catch factual errors, wrong numbers or anything that needs subject knowledge, it only fixes how the writing reads, not whether it’s true. For anything legal, contractual or sensitive like HR letters, always do a final human read before sending. A standing rule is a writing aid, not a legal check.
What you can now do
You never explain your own editing standards twice, every draft meets the same bar without the repeated typing.
Part of Making Life Easier With AI, a weekly walk-through of one small thing AI can take off your plate.
Take this further
Act as a blunt hiring manager who has read ten thousand resumes, not a career coach. I will paste my full resume and the job description I want. Rewrite the whole resume for that role, section by section, in this order: summary, experience, skills, education. Rules: every experience line leads with impact, not duty. Use bracketed placeholders like [8 percent] for any number I did not give you, and list at the end every placeholder I need to replace with a real figure. Keep it to one page of text. Plain formatting only, no tables or columns, so screening software can parse it. After the rewrite, tell me the three weakest claims that need evidence before I send this anywhere. My resume: [paste resume]. The role: [paste job description].
