Prompt details

Tested on

Claude Opus 5.5

Length

517 words · 3 fill-ins

Example input

[Your goals]: 1. Run a half marathon. I have never run more than 5K. 2. Save $10,000 for an emergency fund. 3. Get a remote job. I'm a customer support specialist at an insurance company, in the office 5 days a week, and I want a remote support or customer success role.

[Your time and situation]: 29, live alone in Phoenix. Work 8:30 to 5 Monday to Friday, plus a 40-minute commute each way. Free on weekday evenings after 6:30 and weekends, except Sunday mornings (family brunch). Take-home pay $3,600 a month; rent $1,450; other fixed bills $850; food delivery about $400 a month. I save about $150 a month now and have $2,300 saved. The hottest months here make running outside hard from late morning to evening.

[What you have tried before]: Tried Couch to 5K twice; quit in week 4 both times when work got busy and I missed a few runs. Tried a budgeting app and stopped opening it after 3 weeks. Applied to 12 remote jobs last year with no replies; my resume hasn't been updated in 3 years. I'm good at starting and bad at getting back on track after missing a few days.

Example output

1. Goal check

Assumptions:

Week 1 is this week, so Phoenix's hottest stretch falls in Q3 (about Weeks 27–42).
"$10,000 emergency fund" means a total balance of $10,000, not $10,000 of new savings.
The $750 a month not covered by your listed costs pays for groceries, gas and everything else.

Goal	What is vague or in conflict	Decision
Half marathon	There is no race and no date. You can't yet run 5K without stopping, because you quit Couch to 5K at Week 4 twice. Q3 heat makes long runs unrealistic.	Sequence it first. Race at about Week 24 (Q2), before the heat. Pick a backup race at Weeks 48–52 in case you fall behind. In Q3, keep running at a short, maintenance level.
$10,000 fund	At $150 a month you reach $4,100, not $10,000. You need about 4.3 times your current savings rate (math below).	Keep it, but ramp up. Save $500 a month in Q1, then $700 a month. Check at Week 13: if Q1 averaged under $500, shrink the goal to $8,000 by saving $475 a month.
Remote job	No minimum salary is set and no role titles are chosen. Your 3-year-old resume is the likely cause of zero replies. The search competes with running for evening energy. Time is not the issue.	Sequence it second. Q1 is for rebuilding your resume and LinkedIn. Q2 is light applying. Q3 is the peak, when running drops to maintenance. Also ask your current employer whether remote support roles exist internally.
All three at once	You're good at starting and bad at restarting. Launching three new habits in Week 1 repeats your past pattern.	Stagger the starts. Running and the automatic savings transfer start in Week 1. Job work starts in Week 3. Applications start in Week 10.

Savings math

Left over each month: $3,600 − $1,450 rent − $850 bills − $400 delivery = $900.
Of that $900: you save $150, and $750 goes to unlisted spending.
Amount needed: $10,000 − $2,300 = $7,700 over 12 months = $642 a month.
Plan: Q1 at $500 × 3 = $1,500, then Q2–Q4 at $700 × 9 = $6,300. Total $7,800, so $10,100 by Week 52.

Claude Opus 5.5

Turn Goals into Weekly Actions – Goal setting prompt for ChatGPT and Claude

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Claude Opus 5.5

This prompt turns your goals for the year into a plan you can follow. Paste your goals, your time and money and what you tried before; you get a goal check, quarterly milestones, a normal week and an obstacle plan.

What you get

A goal check that says plainly where your goals clash or are vague
Each goal as a number and deadline, with the weekly action you control
Quarterly milestones and a normal week fitted to your schedule
If-then plans from your past attempts and a weekly, monthly and quarterly review

How to use it

1
Be honest about past attempts
Write what you tried, how far you got and what made you stop. The obstacle plan is built from it.
2
Accept the goal check
If it says your goals do not fit, decide what to sequence or shrink now rather than in month three.
3
Book the weekly review
Put the 15-minute review in your calendar and paste its answers back into the chat when something slips.

Better results

Give real money figures (take-home pay, fixed bills, current savings) so the savings goal comes with real monthly amounts.
Keep to three goals or fewer; if you paste five, expect the goal check to sequence some.
At each quarter's end, paste the review answers and ask: "Rewrite next quarter's milestones from this."

Questions

Can ChatGPT help with goal setting?

Yes, ChatGPT and Claude can help with goal setting by turning vague goals into numbers, milestones and weekly actions, and by checking whether your goals fit your time and money. They work best when you share past attempts and real figures.

How do I break down yearly goals into weekly actions?

Break a yearly goal into a measurable outcome, quarterly milestones that build on each other, and one weekly action you control. Then fit those actions into a real week and keep a smaller version for bad weeks so you never stop completely.

What is a SMART goal?

A SMART goal is specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound, such as saving $10,000 by the end of Quarter 4 instead of saving more. This prompt rewrites each goal that way and adds the weekly action that gets you there.

Updated 8 Nov 2026