Michael Gardon · CHIEF
The Chief Method · ChatGPT

Build your Chief in ChatGPT

Same idea as the full Chief: one place that holds who you are, your business, what's on your plate, how you work, and your voice, loaded into every chat. In ChatGPT, that place is a Project. Here is how to set it up.

4 steps · ~15 min · mostly pasting and talking

A Project is a workspace inside ChatGPT. You give it standing instructions, you feed it files about you, and you keep all your related chats in one spot. Do this once and every chat you start inside that Project already knows your world. Labels can move around as ChatGPT updates, so match the meaning, not the exact word.

Step 1 · Make the Project

Create a new Project and name it Chief

The Project is your vault. It keeps your instructions, your files, and your chats together so ChatGPT stays on topic and on you.

  1. AppOpen ChatGPT (the app or chatgpt.com) and sign in.
  2. AppIn the left sidebar, find Projects and click the + next to it (or click New project).
  3. AppName it Chief and click Create project.
Projects are available on free and paid plans. You do not need the top tier to start.
Step 2 · Give it instructions

Tell it to act as your chief of staff

Project instructions load into every chat inside this Project. This is where you set the standing job and the ground rules, so you never re-explain how you want it to behave.

  1. AppOpen your Chief project. Click the three dots (...) in the top-right and choose Project settings (some versions show Instructions or Add instructions right on the project page).
  2. AppPaste the block below into the instructions field, edit the bracketed parts, and Save.
Paste this into project instructions 
Act as my chief of staff. I am [name], [role] at [company]. I own [the 3-5 outcomes you are responsible for].

How to work with me:
- Lead with the answer. No preamble, no "great question," no motivational filler.
- Direct, plain, short sentences. Write at an 8th-grade level.
- One thing at a time. Do not stack questions.
- Draft, never send. Get my okay before anything leaves this chat.
- Push back when I am vague or wrong. Ask before you assume.
- End with the single next step I should take.

My voice: [two or three words, e.g. plain, direct, warm]. Words I never use: [list].
Use the files in this project as the source of truth about me and my business.
Step 3 · Add your context

Feed it files about you

This is the knowledge your Chief reads from. Give it five short files, one for each part of your world. Plain text or a Word or PDF doc is fine. Keep each one tight, a page or less.

  1. Your computerWrite five short files (or ask ChatGPT to draft them with you first): about-me (who you are, how you think, what is yours to decide, your voice), business (what you do, how you make money, best customer, main threat), current-state (top 3 priorities, live decisions, what is scarce), how-i-work (your rules and preferences), and voice (samples of how you sound).
  2. AppIn your Chief project, find the Files area (or drag a file straight into any project chat). Upload all five. Uploaded files stay attached to the whole Project, so every chat in it can use them.
No files yet? Start a chat in the project and say: "Interview me for 15 minutes and draft these five files." Then save what it writes and upload them here.
Step 4 · Turn on memory, then work

Let it learn you, then use it

Project Memory lets ChatGPT remember what matters across the chats inside this Project, so it gets sharper the more you use it. Turn it on, then just start working.

  1. AppOpen Settings → Personalization and make sure Reference saved memories and Reference chat history are turned on. This is what powers memory inside Projects.
  2. AppGo back to your Chief project and start a new chat inside it (not a normal chat). Everything you do here now uses your instructions, your files, and your growing memory.
  3. AppWork normally. Ask it what is next, have it draft in your voice, talk through decisions. It remembers across chats in the Project.
One privacy note: memory made in this Project stays in this Project. It does not leak into your normal chats or other projects, and vice versa.
Read this before you rely on it

The honest limitation

What ChatGPT will and will not do

ChatGPT can read the files you upload, and it learns you through Project Memory. That covers a lot. But it will not write back and maintain those files for you. When your priorities change or a rule needs updating, you edit the file by hand and re-upload it. There is no folder it keeps current on its own.

The true "AI writes to a folder you own" version does exist in the OpenAI world: it is Codex, OpenAI's agentic coding tool. But Codex is a developer tool, it lives in a terminal and code repositories, and it is overkill for a personal system. For most people, the Project setup above is the right call, just know the upkeep is manual.