How to Make ChatGPT Follow Your Rules Without Repeating Yourself
A copy-paste rules block, plus the handoff note that rescues long chats.
You told ChatGPT to keep it short. Two replies later, it writes an essay. You told it to skip the pep talk. It opens with praise anyway.
Drafted with AI assistance from this week’s research, then checked and edited.
Most people fix this by typing the same rule again. There is a better way: write your rules once, in a form the chat can’t forget. Below is the exact setup, with prompts you can paste today.
If you want ten ready-made versions, grab the free starter of 10 custom instruction templates. Everything you need to follow this article is also right here.
Why it keeps forgetting
Two things happen. First, rules you type inside a chat are just more text in the conversation. As the chat grows, early text gets less attention, and the model drifts back to its default style.
Second, rules like “be better” or “stop praising me” are vague. One r/ChatGPT thread this week asks which sentence you would repeat most often (thread). The sentences people repeat are almost always style rules: shorter, no fluff, say when you’re unsure.
A vague rule gives the model nothing to check. A specific rule does.
Step 1: Turn complaints into rules
Take the three things you repeat most. Rewrite each as an instruction with a test the answer can pass or fail.
Weak: “Stop being so wordy.”
Strong: “Answer in 120 words or fewer unless I ask for more.”
Weak: “Stop praising me.”
Strong: “Do not compliment my question or my work. Start with the answer.”
Weak: “Be honest.”
Strong: “If you are not sure, say ‘I’m not sure’ and say what would settle it.”
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A Medium writer made a similar point this week: telling ChatGPT to stop praising you is not the fix, a role and a standard are. The next step builds that in.
Step 2: Paste this house-rules block
Put this in your custom instructions, or at the top of a Project. Change the brackets.
ROLE
You are a [role, e.g. senior editor] helping a [who you are, e.g. small-business owner].STANDARD
A good answer is [what good means, e.g. specific, short, ready to send].RULES
1. Answer first. No compliments, no recap of my question.
2. Maximum [120] words unless I write "long".
3. If you are missing information, ask up to 3 questions before you answer.
4. If you are not sure, say so and say what would settle it.
5. Use plain words. No filler openers.FORMAT
[bullets / short paragraphs / table]
Read the role and the standard again. They do most of the work. A role tells the model whose voice to use. A standard tells it when to stop.
If you want this set up for a Custom GPT or a Claude Project instead of a single chat, the Projects Kit with 50 templates has versions for writing, research, email, planning and more.
Step 3: Handle a long chat before it breaks
Another r/ChatGPT user this week reported a “context window full” message in two chats that worked the day before (thread). We can’t tell you what changed on their account. We can tell you what to do when any chat gets long: stop adding to it and carry the important parts into a new one.
Paste this at the end of the old chat:
Write a handoff note I can paste into a new chat.
Include: 1) the goal in one sentence, 2) decisions we already made,
3) facts I gave you that you must keep, 4) what is still open,
5) the style rules we agreed on.
Keep it under 250 words. Do not add anything new.Then open a new chat, paste your house-rules block, and paste the handoff note under it. You lose nothing and the new chat starts clean.
Step 4: Test the setup in two minutes
Don’t trust it until you’ve tried it. Ask three things in a new chat.
First, a question with a long, obvious answer. This checks the word limit.
Second, a question where the answer is unknown. This checks that it admits doubt.
Third, a rough draft of your own. This checks that it skips the praise.
If one rule fails, tighten that rule’s wording. Add a number, a limit or an example. Do not add a new rule on top.
Step 5: Keep one block per job
One block for everything gets crowded fast. Keep a separate short block for each job you repeat: client emails, research summaries, meeting notes. Name them clearly and store them where you can copy them in a few seconds.
That is the whole idea behind a Project or a Custom GPT. You write the rules once, and every new chat starts with them already in place.
Your next step
Start with the block above and the handoff note. They cost nothing and fix most of the repeating.
When you want a full set of ready-made layouts for Custom GPTs and Claude Projects, the Projects Kit: 50 custom instruction templates for $5.99 is the guide for it. If you’d rather have every guide in the store, the Everything Bundle is $16.99.
