The Uncommon Business · Framework № 05

Do's, Don'ts & Power Moves

3

Foundation

4

Power

2

Recovery

3

Iteration

7

Strategic

1

Format & Length

The exact phrases Callan uses with Claude, pulled from her live sessions.

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Two rules run every move

Rule 1

Lead with the pain, not the solution.

Tell Claude what's broken in one sentence before you ask it to fix anything.

Rule 2

End every prompt with: "Please ask any clarifying questions before you start."

This one line turns Claude into a thinking partner.

Category 1 of 6

Foundation Moves

The setup plays. The ones you make before you hit enter.

3 moves

1

Foundation Moves

Cast the Role Vividly

The prompt

"You are a world-class [role]. I pay you $1,000 an hour."

Try it when: Starting any new conversation where you need a specific perspective.

2

Foundation Moves

Confess What You Don't Know

The prompt

"I've never done this before. Treat me like a sixth grader. Walk me back before we start."

Try it when: You're new to a domain and don't know the right questions yet.

3

Foundation Moves

Start With the End

The prompt

"Before we start, what are we really trying to achieve here?"

Try it when: You're about to start a build and haven't named the goal yet.

Category 2 of 6

Power Moves

The ones that get you better results from the start.

4 moves

4

Power Moves

Create Fake Urgency

The prompt

"If I don't get this done in 5 minutes, I will lose my job."

Try it when: You're getting long-winded, generic responses.

5

Power Moves

Let AI Organize Your Head

The prompt

"I'm completely overwhelmed. Can you help me organize my thoughts?"

Try it when: You have 47 things swirling and can't think straight.

6

Power Moves

Tell AI the Feeling You Want

The prompt

"I want people to feel like, wow, I should print this out and keep it for later."

Try it when: You know the feeling you want but not the words.

7

Power Moves

Rip This Apart

The prompt

"Rip this apart. Tell me everything that's wrong with it. Then fix it using all those recommendations."

Try it when: You have a draft and need brutal honesty before it goes live.

Category 3 of 6

Recovery Moves

When the conversation goes sideways. Don't start over.

2 moves

8

Recovery Moves

Slow Down

The prompt

"Slow down and ask me 3 more high-impact questions so we get on the same page."

Try it when: AI is going in the wrong direction entirely.

9

Recovery Moves

Interview Me

The prompt

"Interview me to extract what I actually need."

Try it when: YOU don't even know what you want.

Category 4 of 6

Iteration Moves

When the output is close, but needs refinement.

3 moves

10

Iteration Moves

Capture the Winning Prompt

The prompt

"What prompt would reliably produce this result every time? Write it for me."

Try it when: You just got an output that's exactly what you wanted.

11

Iteration Moves

Save What You Learned

The prompt

"Can you let me know all the new things you learned in this chat? Then I'll tell you what to remember forever, and we'll update the skill together."

Try it when: You're training a skill or building an AI employee over multiple sessions.

12

Iteration Moves

The Pre-Delivery Audit

The prompt

"Before you deliver anything, you must complete a mandatory pre-delivery audit. Do not deliver until this is done. Step 1. Render it mentally. Go through the output element by element, top to bottom, left to right, exactly as the end user will experience it. Not the code. Not the logic. The actual result. Step 2. Write a QA checklist. For every element, write a line with PASS or FAIL. The checklist must cover: - Every piece of content requested is present and in the right place - Every piece of data (names, numbers, addresses, codes, dates) is correct and readable - No element overlaps, clips, truncates, or crowds another element - Spacing is consistent and intentional, with no section feeling tighter or looser than another - Every special character, emoji, or symbol renders as intended, not as a box, question mark, or blank - Alignment is correct: centered things are centered, left-aligned things are flush, and nothing drifts - Hierarchy is clear, with the most important information the most visually prominent - The output works for its intended audience (age, context, device, and use case) - Nothing looks pasted, broken, accidental, or like a placeholder - The overall result would make a world-class professional in this field proud to put their name on it Step 3. Fix every FAIL. Re-audit after fixing. Do not deliver until every line is PASS. Step 4. Show me the checklist with your delivery. If I find something you marked PASS that is clearly wrong, explain why you missed it."

Try it when: Shipping a mistake would cost you trust or money.

Category 5 of 6

Strategic Moves

Higher-order moves for important projects and high-stakes decisions.

7 moves

13

Strategic Moves

Shadow Board

The prompt

"Build me a Shadow Board of 5 real thought leaders, authors, or experts for this project. Choose people with different lenses: strategy, psychology, execution, creativity, communication, and risk. For each person, tell me: 1. Why they belong 2. What lens they bring 3. What they will challenge Use this board throughout the project to critique, pressure-test, and improve the work."

Try it when: Starting an important project or decision.

14

Strategic Moves

Board Scoring Protocol

The prompt

"Have each Shadow Board member score this from 0–100. For each person, show: 1. Score 2. What works 3. What is weak 4. What would make it a 100 Then make the board debate, challenge each other, and create one final version designed to score 100/100 across all perspectives."

Try it when: You have a draft and want to push it toward excellence.

15

Strategic Moves

Limiting Belief Detector

The prompt

"Scan this decision for limiting beliefs. Tell me where I may be operating from: 1. Fear 2. Scarcity 3. People-pleasing 4. Old identity 5. Avoidance 6. Desire for certainty 7. Fear of being seen For each one, tell me: - what belief is driving it - what it is costing me - what a more powerful belief would be Then help me make the decision from expansion, truth, and self-trust."

Try it when: Making a major decision and you may be shrinking, avoiding, or playing safe.

16

Strategic Moves

Invisible Resistance Scan

The prompt

"Scan this for invisible resistance. Where would a real human: 1. Pause 2. Doubt 3. Lose trust 4. Feel confused 5. Feel pressured 6. Need more proof 7. Stop moving forward Then remove the friction and make the next step feel obvious, safe, and natural."

Try it when: People are not buying, trusting, understanding, or moving forward.

17

Strategic Moves

Universal Laws Check

The prompt

"Pass this situation through 5 universal laws: 1. Law of Alignment: does this match who I am becoming? 2. Law of Expansion: does this move me toward growth, not contraction? 3. Law of Integrity: is this clean, true, and honest? 4. Law of Energy: does this create life force or drain it? 5. Law of Reciprocity: does this create value for everyone involved? Score each law from 0–10. For anything below 10: - tell me what is out of alignment - what needs to change - what decision would score a 10 Do not let me move forward until this passes every law."

Try it when: Before committing to a decision, offer, launch, relationship, message, or major move.

18

Strategic Moves

Future Failure Audit

The prompt

"Imagine this failed 6 months from now. Tell me the 10 most likely reasons. For each one: 1. Early warning sign 2. Why we missed it 3. How to prevent it now Then tell me which failure is most likely to blindside us because it feels harmless today."

Try it when: Before a launch, hire, offer, investment, or high-stakes decision.

19

Strategic Moves

Executive Anti-AI Polish Pass

The prompt

"Give this an Executive Anti-AI Polish Pass. Make it sound like a sharp human operator wrote it, not AI. Cut anything: - repetitive - overexplained - generic - padded - performative - vague - too long - trying too hard Remove AI tells: - repeated sentence patterns - filler transitions - corporate jargon - vague claims - motivational-poster energy - anything that sounds written instead of said Cut at least 20%. Deliver only when it is clear, human, sharp, concise, and impossible to mistake for AI."

Try it when: Before sending anything to leadership, investors, executives, clients, or anyone important.

Category 6 of 6

Format & Length

Mid-stream tweaks to make the output usable.

1 move

20

Format & Length

Sixth-Grade Reading Level

The prompt

"Deliver at a 6th grade reading level."

Try it when: The output is dense, jargon-heavy, or pitched above your audience.

The Big Picture

Clarity is the bottleneck

The clearer you are about what you actually want, the better what Claude gives you back. When you don't know what you want, use Claude to figure that out first.

"You won't get AI to write like you if you don't know how to write like you."

Callan Faulkner