Steal the Productivity System I Taught to 6,642 Googlers

During my time at Google, I ran Googler

to Google GDG workshops every quarter

for 9 years. And in that time, I taught

over 6,600 Googlers the core workflow, a

system that took the productivity

frameworks from the classics like

getting things done, make time, building

a second brain, and implemented them in

an actual corporate environment. The end

result is a systematic workflow that

ensures we never lose another file,

task, or note. And if that sounds

interesting to you, then let's get

started. All right, before we dive into

a real world example of the core

workflow, there are two quick things you

need to know. First, broadly speaking,

there are four types of information we

encounter in the workplace. Tasks,

ideas, notes, and media, which is

basically our digital files. And the

core workflow gives us a framework to

deal with all four types of information

so that nothing slips through the

cracks. Second, even though we're using

Google tools as examples in today's

video, the system itself is platform

agnostic, meaning it works with whatever

tools you're already using, Notion,

To-Doist, Apple Notes, or even the

inferior Microsoft suite, right? It

doesn't matter. Now, onto a real world

example I'm sure that we can all relate

to. It's Monday. I'm eating lunch in the

cafeteria and my VP drops by asking me

to prepare a few slides on how the Japan

market is doing and she needs it by

Thursday for her quarterly business

review, QBR. Now, at that moment in

time, I don't have my laptop with me. I

have backto-back meetings right after

lunch. So, there's a very good chance

I'll forget about this request entirely

by tomorrow morning. As David Allen

famously said, "Our brains are for

having ideas, not holding them." So,

this is where the core workflow kicks

in. Step one, capture. I pull out my

phone, tap the Google Tasks widget on my

home screen, and add a task. Schedule

time for Japan market data. Set the due

date to today. add detail for Prrisca's

QBR on Thursday and we're done. The task

has been captured and my brain can now

forget about it. Step two, organize. In

this example, the organized step

actually happened automatically because

a task without a due date gets lost,

right? So, by assigning a due date to

our task, we've already completed the

organized step and no further action is

required. Step three, review. During my

evening review session before leaving

the office, I check my task list, see

the request, and immediately block two

hours on my Google calendar for

Wednesday morning. And only once that

time is blocked, can I mark the original

task as complete because it has now

transformed into a concrete commitment

on my calendar. Step four, engage. On

Wednesday morning during my block time,

I execute and actually do the work and

that closes the loop on the core

workflow for this specific task. It was

captured in a mobile app, then organized

with a due date. I was reminded of it

during a review session, and then I

blocked off time to actually engage with

the task. Now, before we break down each

step in detail, I can already see some

of the comments. Jeff, this is so much

extra work. Why over complicate it when

it's probably easier and probably faster

to just do the thing? Fair point. For

those of you who aren't productivity

nerds like me, here's a quick recap on

the three core productivity principles.

First, relying on willpower and

motivation is unsustainable. James Clear

said it best in Ato atomic habits. We do

not rise to the level of our goals. We

fall to the level of our systems.

Second, the purpose of a system is to

help us do the thing even on our worst

days. When we're tired, unmotivated, and

don't feel like doing the thing. Third,

and this is what made it click for me

all those years ago, the short-term

discomfort of adopting a new routine

will always be less than the ongoing

stress and disappointment of not making

progress on my most important goals. Put

simply, the core workflow, or any

workflow for that matter, isn't extra

work. It just redirects the mental

energy you're already wasting into a

reliable system where the benefits

compound over time. Speaking of awesome

benefits, if you want to boost your

Google Workspace productivity by 1%

every week, sign up for my weekly

newsletter to receive a bite-siz tip you

can apply in under 60 seconds. Link down

below. All right, now that you're

somewhat bought into the benefits of

having a system, let's break down each

step of the core workflow. And since we

used tasks as an example earlier, let's

use the ideas information type here.

First up, capture. As we've covered, our

brains are for having ideas, not holding

them. So, we need to offload those ideas

onto an external platform like an app or

a notebook as quickly as possible.

Here's an example. During my commute, a

podcast gives me the idea to use Chris

Voss's negotiation techniques to ask my

manager for a pay raise. I immediately

open the Google Keep app and write it

down. Use AI and Voss to roleplay for a

comp chat. Pro tip, I use Google Keep

here because it's specifically designed

for quick capture and not long-term

storage. Step two, organize. Once

information has been captured, we need a

lightweight system to sort it for easy

processing later. Continue our example.

At the moment of capture, I simply tag

the note in Google Keep with the label

thoughts. And that's it. The note now

sits in my Google Keep inbox until it's

processed in the next step. As a quick

aside, I don't want to overwhelm you in

this video, but broadly speaking,

information that originates from

ourselves is categorized as thoughts,

while information from external sources

like meetings or YouTube videos is

categorized as notes. Third, the review

step is all about regularly processing

what I call our information inboxes

because capturing and organizing all

that information means absolutely

nothing if we never look at them again.

Most people don't do this because it's

too much work. The key is to schedule

those review sessions and protect that

time like any other meeting because

again, none of us can rely on willpower

alone. I personally have three 30-inute

review blocks scheduled every day. One

in the morning, one after lunch, and one

before I sign off. Continue our example.

When I get to the office, my calendar

reminds me to review my inboxes. The

event description has a direct link to a

Google Keep view showing all my

unprocessed notes. When I see the idea

about negotiating my pay raise, I do

three things. First, I block off time in

my calendar to prepare for the

negotiation. Next, I add a topic,

discuss compensation in the 101 meeting

notes with my manager so I don't forget

to actually bring it up. And by the way,

in contrast with Google Keep, Google

Docs was specifically designed for

long-term storage. Finally, I archive

the original Google Keep note so it

disappears from my inbox. It's done.

It's processed. I can forget about it.

Step four, engage. In a nutshell, this

step is just about executing, actually

doing the work. To close a loop on our

example, after using AI to prepare for

the negotiation, I add a few detailed

talking points in my one-on-one meeting

notes document so I'm fully prepared for

my chat. And that's the core workflow.

We turned a fleeting idea into a fully

prepared negotiation that hopefully

results in a higher pay raise. All

because we captured, organized,

reviewed, and engaged with it. For those

of you who don't have an existing system

in place, I know all this seems like a

lot of work, but I can promise you after

just 2 weeks, all this will become

second nature. And I can't emphasize

this point enough. The tools and

platforms you use do not matter. I

receive way too many questions about

this. You can use to-doist, tick, tick,

Apple notes, Obsidian, Notion, it

doesn't matter. The workflow doesn't

change. capture quickly, organize

clearly, review frequently, and engage

effectively. That said, if you do happen

to rely on Google Workspace tools, I

highly recommend checking out the full

Workspace Academy course where I break

down in detail how the core workflow

applies to the essential Google

products, Gmail, Google Calendar, Drive,

Tasks, Keep, Docs, Sheets, and Slides.

Thousands of students have now gone

through the course and a crowd favorite

is an automation I created for Google

Drive that automatically organizes all

the new files and folders you create. So

you don't even have to think about the

organize step. I'll leave a link to the

course down below. If you found this

helpful, you might want to check out how

to build essential AI habits next. See

you on the next video in the meantime.

Have a great one.