Free Time with Jenny Blake

267: Insights from Google's Productivity Expert—On Saying No, Cozy Corners, The Laundry Method, and More with Laura Mae Martin


Listen Later

Laura Mae Martin has a fascinating role as the Executive Productivity Advisor at Google in the Office of the CEO—one that she helped create six years ago (with big thanks to Jenny Wood for introducing us!). ****She coaches Google’s top executives on the best ways to manage their time and energy and sends out a weekly productivity newsletter that reaches over fifty thousand employees.

Today we’re talking about her forthcoming book, Uptime: A Practical Guide to Personal Productivity and Wellbeing. We discuss what the most senior-level executives do differently when it comes to time management (and what they still struggle with), five strategies for saying no, taming inbox stress with The Laundry Method, cozy corners, pairing activities with certain locations (hot spots and not spots), and what differentiates truly excellent executive assistants.

More About Laura: During her nearly fourteen-year tenure at Google, Laura Mae Martin has worked in sales, product operations, event planning, and now executive coaching. She holds a bachelor of science in business administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, with her husband and three children under five.


🌟 3 Key Takeaways
  • Laura’s 5 C’s of Productivity: Calm, Create, Capture, Consolidate, Close. Create a system that you truly trust: where new tasks get captured and where you know you will see them again. No matter when or where a loop comes from (i.e. on a walk), ensure you have systems in place for the entire loop lifecycle from capturing to closing.
  • Five Ways to Say No to Incoming Requests: ask more questions to better understand the time commitment and see if it aligns with your top three priorities; say you’ll think about it or don’t respond right away to buy yourself time and prevent a knee-jerk response; imagine two scenarios playing out for yes and for no (to help you decide); say no, but _______ (send helpful resources); say no, because _______ (give a little context).
  • The Laundry Method: Think about your inbox the way you think about your dryer. You would never process clothes one item at a time—whether drying, folding or putting away—and yet that’s how many people tackle email. Process in batches instead. Treat sorting, reading, and answering as separate activities. If you have only twenty minutes, pick one of those activities.

    📝 Permission

    Give yourself plenty of down time in order to have highly productive uptime; drop the guilt! Rest leads to better overall productivity.


    ✅ Do (or Delegate) This Next

    Stop wasting energy points! Eliminate any emails from your inbox that you don’t need to see: the unread, notifications, newsletters (Jenny uses SaneBox for this), and make sure you help the things you need to see stick out.


    🔗 Resources Mentioned
    • Laura on the web, IG, LinkedIn
    • Articles: Business Insider—6 tips a productivity advisor gives Google executives to better manage their email, meetings, and workload
    • Google Blog—5 things I learned from Google’s productivity expert
    • CNN—She helps Google workers be productive. Here are her pro tips.
    • Video: Top 3 Google Workspace tips
    • Apps: SaneBox, TextExpander, HelpScout

      📚 Books Mentioned
      • Uptime: A Practical Guide to Personal Productivity and Wellbeing
      • Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business
      • Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One
      • Life After College

      • 🎧 Related Episodes
        • Free Time: 019: Most Valuable Activities with Dave Crenshaw
        • 154: The Hard No
        • 027: Time Management for Mortals with Oliver Burkeman
        • Pivot: 289: Stealing Wi-Fi as Career Strategy with Jenny Wood
        • 307: Pivoting from Google to Launching People Playbook with Tony McGaharan
        • 318: The Beauty of Late Bloomers with Jenna Valovic
        • 309: Wayfinding and Developing Identity Agency with Ciela Hartanov

        • 📝 Check out full show notes and share with friends: https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/267

          Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

          ...more
          View all episodesView all episodes
          Download on the App Store

          Free Time with Jenny BlakeBy Jenny Blake

          • 4.9
          • 4.9
          • 4.9
          • 4.9
          • 4.9

          4.9

          49 ratings


          More shows like Free Time with Jenny Blake

          View all
          The Creative Penn Podcast For Writers by Joanna Penn

          The Creative Penn Podcast For Writers

          605 Listeners

          The Smart Passive Income Online Business and Blogging Podcast by Pat Flynn

          The Smart Passive Income Online Business and Blogging Podcast

          3,447 Listeners

          Good Life Project by Jonathan Fields / Acast

          Good Life Project

          3,313 Listeners

          Afford Anything by Paula Pant | Cumulus Podcast Network

          Afford Anything

          3,538 Listeners

          Side Hustle School by Chris Guillebeau / Onward Project

          Side Hustle School

          3,310 Listeners

          The Marie Forleo Podcast by Marie Forleo

          The Marie Forleo Podcast

          1,647 Listeners

          The Daily by The New York Times

          The Daily

          110,802 Listeners

          Best of Both Worlds Podcast by iHeartPodcasts

          Best of Both Worlds Podcast

          759 Listeners

          Hello Monday with Jessi Hempel by LinkedIn

          Hello Monday with Jessi Hempel

          1,019 Listeners

          The Next Big Idea by Next Big Idea Club

          The Next Big Idea

          1,272 Listeners

          Deep Questions with Cal Newport by Cal Newport

          Deep Questions with Cal Newport

          1,305 Listeners

          Kelly Corrigan Wonders by Kelly Corrigan

          Kelly Corrigan Wonders

          3,319 Listeners

          The Gathering Room Podcast by Martha Beck

          The Gathering Room Podcast

          658 Listeners

          A Slight Change of Plans by Pushkin Industries

          A Slight Change of Plans

          2,047 Listeners

          Get Hired with Andrew Seaman by LinkedIn

          Get Hired with Andrew Seaman

          142 Listeners