--- title: Claude finally got me to stop procrastinating, and it... description: A personal workflow tip describes a single prompt that stops Claude from generating overwhelming multi-step plans: instead, ask it to identify the most-avoided... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/claude-finally-got-me-to-stop-procrastinating-and-it-only-took-one-instruction-rbqq90suf twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Claude finally got me to stop procrastinating, and it only took one instruction | daily.dev og:description: A personal workflow tip describes a single prompt that stops Claude from generating overwhelming multi-step plans: instead, ask it to identify the most-avoided... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/claude-finally-got-me-to-stop-procrastinating-and-it-only-took-one-instruction-rbqq90suf og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/rBqQ90suF.png og:image:alt: Claude finally got me to stop procrastinating, and it only took one instruction og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Claude finally got me to stop procrastinating, and it only took one instruction **[XDA Developers](https://daily.dev/sources/xda-developers)** · 4 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A personal workflow tip describes a single prompt that stops Claude from generating overwhelming multi-step plans: instead, ask it to identify the most-avoided task in a folder or project and give one 5-minute step, then stop. The author explains why the wording works (per Anthropic's prompting guidance, positive instructions work better than negative ones), how it's packaged as a Claude Code 'skill' called /nudge with disable-model-invocation set to true, and how it's reused in Claude Chat project instructions for personal life admin. A quick test comparing Opus 5.5 and Sonnet 5.5 at medium effort shows both picked the same file and step, though their internal approach differed (Opus read all files sequentially, Sonnet ran a search command). ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### How can I stop Claude from giving me a huge multi-step plan every time I ask it for help getting started on a task? Use a short direct instruction telling it not to give a plan, but instead to identify which task you've been avoiding the longest and give one step you can finish in 5 minutes, then stop. Positive phrasing works better than just listing what not to do, since Claude responds better to a description of desired behavior than a list of restrictions, per Anthropic's own prompting guidance. _Developers refining prompt habits for AI coding assistants can find more practical techniques like this on daily.dev._ ### How do Claude Code skills work and how do I stop one from triggering automatically? Skills are instruction files Claude Code loads either automatically when a task seems relevant or when called by name. Setting disable-model-invocation to true in a skill's configuration prevents Claude from loading it on its own, so it only runs when explicitly invoked, for example by typing a slash command like /nudge. _Anyone customizing Claude Code workflows can track tips like this through daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [I finally got Claude to stop arguing with me, and all it took was this one instruction](https://daily.dev/posts/i-finally-got-claude-to-stop-arguing-with-me-and-all-it-took-was-this-one-instruction-knrhpfsna) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Using Opus 5 Without Going Insane · Los Techies](https://daily.dev/posts/using-opus-5-without-going-insane-los-techies-slisok5bv) · LosTechies · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [I set up Claude Code's newest model the way its creator does, and it makes a bigger difference than I imagined](https://daily.dev/posts/i-set-up-claude-code-s-newest-model-the-way-its-creator-does-and-it-makes-a-bigger-difference-than--wiojevawy) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#productivity](https://daily.dev/tags/productivity), [#claude](https://daily.dev/tags/claude), [#claude-code](https://daily.dev/tags/claude-code), [#prompt-engineering](https://daily.dev/tags/prompt-engineering) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/claude-finally-got-me-to-stop-procrastinating-and-it-only-took-one-instruction-rbqq90suf) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Claude finally got me to stop procrastinating, and it only took one instruction","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/claude-finally-got-me-to-stop-procrastinating-and-it-only-took-one-instruction-rbqq90suf","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/claude-finally-got-me-to-stop-procrastinating-and-it-only-took-one-instruction-rbqq90suf"},"datePublished":"2026-09-29T21:37:45.458Z","dateModified":"2026-09-29T21:38:14.394Z","description":"A personal workflow tip describes a single prompt that stops Claude from generating overwhelming multi-step plans: instead, ask it to identify the most-avoided...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/59dcdb9413d504a4d3ca038523a223cd?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/59dcdb9413d504a4d3ca038523a223cd?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"XDA Developers","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"XDA Developers","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--kCg6yyAP--/f_auto,q_auto/v1774964407/logos/xda-developers?_a=BAMAMiWQ0","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/xda-developers"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/claude-finally-got-me-to-stop-procrastinating-and-it-only-took-one-instruction-rbqq90suf","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"productivity,claude,claude-code,prompt-engineering","timeRequired":"PT4M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"XDA Developers","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/xda-developers"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Claude finally got me to stop procrastinating, and it only took one instruction"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/claude-finally-got-me-to-stop-procrastinating-and-it-only-took-one-instruction-rbqq90suf#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"How can I stop Claude from giving me a huge multi-step plan every time I ask it for help getting started on a task?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Use a short direct instruction telling it not to give a plan, but instead to identify which task you've been avoiding the longest and give one step you can finish in 5 minutes, then stop. 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