Clone the Best Parts of Yourself (With Google Gems)

You know that moment when you catch yourself doing something for the tenth time and think, "I know there's a better way."

That was me before Gems, copy-pasting the same brand voice instructions into yet another chat window. Same context. Same explanations. Same information I'd already typed out yesterday, and the day before that, and the day before that.

It hit me: I'm basically having the same conversation over and over, like some kind of productivity time loop.

It felt like Groundhog Day. The Bill Murray movie where he keeps waking up to the same day over and over again. (Clearly, my Gen X is showing.)

Every AI conversation builds on itself. Questions lead to better answers, corrections refine the output, and context deepens the understanding. But all of that disappears when you start a new chat.

That happens in the setup. If you have to "onboard" your AI assistant from scratch every single time you open a new chat, you aren't saving time. You're just doing data entry with extra steps. 😉

Enter Gemini Gems

I've got a whole series coming on Google's AI ecosystem—five parts covering everything from NotebookLM to AI Studio. But I'm starting here with Gems for a reason: this is the foundation that makes everything else work better.

Let me show you why.

What Are Gems? (The Easy Version)

Think of a standard AI chat as a brilliant freelancer who has complete amnesia.

Every morning, they show up smart and capable, ready to work. But they have no idea who you are, what your business does, or that you hate the word "delve" with the fire of a thousand suns.

A Custom Gem is that same freelancer—but trained specifically on you.

It's Google's version of Custom GPTs. It's a preset version of Gemini that remembers your instructions, your files, and your preferences. Forever.

Instead of having one general assistant who knows nothing about you, you can build a small team:

- A Marketing Gem that knows your voice
- A Coding Gem that knows your tech stack
- A Research Gem that knows your preferred summary format
- An Image Gem that knows your image style for content

You build them once, and they work for you forever.

No more copy-pasting the same instructions every single day.

The "When to Gem" Checklist

You don't need a Gem for everything. (Don't overcomplicate this. Start with a few things you know you need because they're tasks you repeat).

But you absolutely need one if:

✔️ You're Repeating Yourself: If you find yourself pasting the same prompt more than three times a week, that's a Gem waiting to happen.

✔️ You Need a Specific Voice: If you constantly have to tell the AI "make this sound less corporate" or "write this for a midlife audience who's tired of bro-marketing."

✔️ You Have a Process: If you have a specific way you like your newsletters structured, your code commented, or your research summarized.

That's it. Don't overthink it.

How to Create Your First Gem (Step-by-Step)

Ready to build? It's easier than you think. You don't need to be technical—you just need to be clear about what you want.

1. Open Gem Manager

Go to gemini.google.com and look for the "Gem Manager" button on the left sidebar. (Look on the left-hand side, you'll see the diamond icon that says 'Explore Gems'. Click that).

Click the blue pill labeled "+ New Gem."

2. Name Your Specialist

Don't call it "My Gem" or "Assistant 1."

Give it a role. Call it "The Email Strategist" or "The Python Fixer" or "The Newsletter Editor."

The name matters because you'll be choosing between multiple Gems later. Make it immediately obvious what each one does. The Description is what the Gem does. For example, if you're creating a Gem that generates images with Nano Banana for your blog posts, and you have a character that you want some consistency with, you could write "Blog Post Character Image Generator" (or something a little less wordy, lol).

3. The Instructions (This is Where the Work Happens)

This is where most people struggle, so let me break it down. Write your instructions in plain English, but be specific.

Bad Example:

"Help me write emails."

That's useless. The AI has no idea what kind of emails to send, to whom, or in what style.

Good Example:

"You are an expert email copywriter. Your goal is to draft newsletters for a female-entrepreneur audience aged 40-55 who are tired of bro-marketing tactics. Use short sentences. Avoid jargon. Keep paragraphs 2-3 sentences max. Always end with a question to encourage replies. Never use exclamation points unless you're quoting someone. Avoid words like 'crushing it,' 'game-changing,' or 'ninja.'"

See the difference?

The Ideal Formula for Great Instructions:

1. Define the role: "You are an expert [X]"
2. State the goal: "Your goal is to [specific outcome]."
3. Describe the audience: "For [who] who [context.]"
4. Set the style rules: "Use [this]. Avoid [that]."
5. Add specific constraints: "Always/Never [specific thing]."

4. Add Knowledge (Context Files)

You can upload up to 10 files—PDFs, Google Docs, whatever you've got.

What to Upload:

- Your 3-5 BEST examples of the output you want (not everything—quality over quantity)
- Your style guide (if you have one)
- Your bio or company overview
- Transcripts of your best work

What NOT to Upload:

- Random documents to fill the 10-file limit
- Conflicting examples (old work that doesn't match your current style)
- Everything you've ever written (the Gem will get confused trying to figure out what you actually want)

Less is more here.

5. Save & Test

Click save. Then immediately test it with a real prompt. See what it gives you. If it's weird, go back and refine your instructions.

Your first version won't be perfect. That's okay. Think of it like training a new assistant—they get better as they learn your preferences.

Tips for Building Effective Gems:

Be specific about the output format: Instead of "help me write better," specify exactly what you want: "Write in a conversational tone with short paragraphs, no corporate jargon, and include practical examples." The more precise you are, the more consistent your results.

Define what success looks like: Include 2-3 examples of outputs you love. For image Gems, upload reference images. For writing Gems, paste sample paragraphs that capture your voice. The Gem learns from what you show it, not just what you tell it.

Set clear boundaries: Tell your Gem what NOT to do. "Don't use buzzwords like 'leverage' or 'synergy'" or "Never make the character look corporate or overly polished." These guardrails prevent drift over time.

Test with edge cases: Don't just test the obvious use case. Try scenarios that might confuse it. If you're building a writing Gem, test it with different topics. If it's an image Gem, try various settings and moods. See where it breaks down.

Keep Gems focused on single tasks: One Gem for blog post images. A different one for social media graphics. Another for YouTube thumbnails. Trying to make one Gem do everything dilutes its effectiveness and creates inconsistent results.

Pro Tip: In your instructions, paste an example of a "perfect" output and say, "Do it like this." The AI learns best by seeing.

5 Gem Ideas You Can Steal Right Now

If you're staring at a blank screen, wondering what to build, start here. These are the five Gems that run my workflow.

1. The Brand Voice Guardian

Context: Upload your "Voice and Style Guide" and your three best pieces of content.

Instruction: "You are a brand voice editor. Analyze drafts against my style guide. Don't rewrite it—tell me where I sound too corporate or where I'm losing the conversational tone. Point out specific sentences that need work."

Time Savings: About 15 minutes per piece of content (I used to re-read everything three times, looking for this stuff).

2. The "Content Flip" Strategist

Context: Upload transcripts of your best YouTube videos or podcast episodes.

Instruction: "Take this video transcript and turn it into a 1,000-word blog post. Use H2 headers for the main points. Keep the tone conversational but authoritative. Remove filler words and verbal tics. Add a strong opening hook and a clear CTA at the end."

Time Savings: About 45 minutes per video (I used to spend an hour turning transcripts into readable posts).

3. The Inbox Triage Assistant

Context: None needed.

Instruction: "Analyze this pasted email thread. Summarize the open action items and deadlines in bullet points. Then draft a polite but firm response. If the request is unreasonable, help me decline without burning the relationship."

Time Savings: 20 minutes per complex email thread (and way less stress).

4. The Research Synthesizer

Context: None needed.

Instruction: "I will paste text from several articles. Your job is to find the common patterns and contradictions between them. Give me bullet points only. Flag anything that seems like outdated information or conflicting data."

Time Savings: At least an hour per research project (I used to read everything twice, trying to connect the dots).

5. The "Vibe Coding" Partner

Context: Upload examples of well-commented code you like.

Instruction: "You are an expert web developer. I am a non-technical founder who uses 'vibe coding' to build. Explain code concepts to me using simple analogies. When you write code, ensure it's clean and heavily commented. Always explain WHAT the code does before showing HOW it works."

Time Savings: Immeasurable (I can actually build things now instead of getting stuck on syntax I don't understand).

Best Practices (From Someone Who's Made All the Mistakes)

I've built a lot of these. And I've made a lot of mess along the way. Here's what I've learned.

One Gem, One Job

The biggest mistake I see people make? Trying to build a Swiss Army Knife Gem that does everything. It won't work. You'll end up with something mediocre at everything instead of excellent at one thing.

A specialist beats a generalist every time.

For example, I have separate Gems for:

- Blog post images (the one we just built)
- YouTube video repurposing
- Brand voice content

Each one has a specific job and does that job really well. If you try to combine them, you'll get messy, inconsistent results.

Show, Don't Just Tell

When you're setting up your Gem, don't just write instructions - give examples. Upload actual samples of what you want. For the image Gem, I uploaded four previous images so it could see exactly what the character should look like. For my brand voice Gem, I pasted in newsletter excerpts so it could learn my natural writing style.

The AI learns by seeing, not just by reading your bullet points.

Expect to Iterate

Your first version won't be perfect - that's normal. Let's say you build a content repurposing Gem and test it on a few pieces of content. You might realize it's coming across as too formal or too casual for your brand. That's when you go back and add something like: "Write like you're talking to a friend over coffee, not presenting at a conference."

Small tweaks like that can completely change the output.

Use your Gems on real work right away. You'll find the gaps faster than any amount of hypothetical testing, and you'll know immediately if it's actually saving you time or just creating more work.

Your First Month With Gems

Don't try to build five Gems in one sitting.

Start with one. Pick the task you're sick of repeating - maybe it's pasting the same instructions into every chat, or reformatting content for different platforms, or generating social media captions. Build that Gem, use it for a week, take notes on what's weird or what's missing.

Week two, refine it. Add the rules for the things that went wrong. Remove anything that's making it more complicated than it needs to be.

Week three, build your second Gem using what you learned from the first.

Week four? You'll know if you actually need a third one or if these two are handling most of your repetitive work.

Real talk: I have five Gems total. I only use three of them regularly. The other two were good ideas that didn't translate to actual daily use. And that's fine.

What This Actually Gets You

The real win isn't about saving minutes - it's about eliminating decision fatigue. When you don't have to think about how to phrase your brand voice instructions for the hundredth time, or what format your social captions should follow, you free up mental space for the strategic work that actually requires your brain.

Build your first Gem this week. Pick one repetitive task that makes you groan every time you have to do it. Test the Gem on real work, refine it, and see what happens when that task stops draining your energy.