Get Organized! by Dr. Frank Buck

Christmas cards just showed up in my mailbox. In September! 🎄Most people would stick them in a drawer and find them in February. I use my tickler file instead. It takes five seconds, and the cards come back to me exactly when I want them. I also used it today to hold a receipt packet for three days. And a clean desk has been a habit of a friend of mine all the way to the president's office of...

Most problems don't linger because they're impossible to solve. They linger because they haven't reached the right person yet. I call it the "right pair of eyes" principle, and once you see it, you'll use it every time. Whether it's a flickering light that affected a whole neighborhood for years or a frustrated customer who can't get through to the right person, t...

A money calendar is one more calendar to add to your present Google Calendar. It will list all of the things that are happening automatically with your finances. You will know exactly what you are expecting to see happen. Where you have a charge that doesn’t jive with what’s on your money calendar, you will have a trigger to take action. For more, visit the blog post: https://frankbuck.org/money-c...

When so much information comes to us digitally, how can you keep up with it using a paper planner? One simple trick makes it easy.

So you want this college year to be a good one, and you’re looking for ideas, right? That’s probably what brought you here. Tip number one would be to show up for class. But right behind it would be having a good set of notes. That’s the bridge between what happened in class and what’s going to happen on the test. For more, visit the blog post: https://frankbuck.org/better-notes-better-grades/

Back-to-school season is a great reminder that time management isn't just a workplace skill; it starts in college. I put together a breakdown of 12 apps that help students manage classes, tasks, notes, finances, and daily logistics from one device. The same principles apply whether you're a student managing a course load or a professional managing a team: write it down, keep one system, an...

5 years ago. 1.5 million views ago. 1,600 comments ago. That was the video entitled "How I Memorized 57 Pages of Notes in 1 Day." I had no idea that this video would be far and away the most viewed. As we look to a new school year, let's look at one of the challenges high school and college students face: memorizing notes for tests. I don't think memorization is the key to lifelo...

Summer break is over, and that "this will be my best year" feeling is real. But by the time the Halloween candy shows up, the grind can wear that feeling down fast. Here's some good news: you don't need a total overhaul to stay ahead this year. Just three simple decisions: ✅ Pick ONE way to communicate with parents ✅ Keep documentation dead simple (a plain notebook works) ✅ De...

Almost 30 years in public education taught me something that has nothing to do with test scores: the students who have the smoothest year aren't always the smartest ones in the room. They're the ones with a system, and usually a parent who helped build it. As families head into a new school year, here are five low-cost habits worth setting up now: A locker divider that turns wasted space i...

Dr. Danny Brassell has been called a “cross between Jim Carrey and Robin Williams.” He uses humor to impart the very serious message about the importance of reading for young people of all ages. Danny and I recorded this episode several years ago, and it remains one of my favorites. We all agree that education is critical to the future of any nation. But what can each of us do...as parents, as com...

Gmail has rolled out three features that are genuinely useful: you can now change your Gmail address, unsubscribe from all your junk mail in one dashboard, and track every package without leaving your inbox. These are small changes that add up to real time savings. Which one are you trying first? Drop a comment below and share this with someone who could use a cleaner inbox. 👇 https://FrankBuck.o...

Feeling buried in email? Your inbox was never meant to be a to-do list. Gmail has built-in tools that help you clear the clutter fast. In my latest post, I walk through four simple workflows using Google Calendar, Tasks, and Keep to get your inbox down to zero. No new apps. No complicated systems. Just tools you already have, finally working together. https://FrankBuck.org/gmail-empty-inbox

Being late isn't just an inconvenience. It's a statement. It tells everyone waiting that their time matters less than yours. We've all known that person. The one who walks in five minutes late every day. The parent who arrives just as the bus pulls out. Fast forward 20 years, and the same habits follow them into the workplace. Early is one time. On time is late. It's a small shift that makes a big...

If your daily checklist is built around Remember The Milk, today's update is a game-changer for your workflow. Subtasks are incredible for organizing projects, but delaying a project usually means opening the task, modifying the subtasks, and then modifying the main task separately. Doing this for ten projects can drain your energy. Thanks to a helpful team member at Remember The Milk, we now...

How do you keep all the balls in the air when you have a dozen projects going at once? Here's the system I use in Remember The Milk. For more, be sure to check out the blog post. https://frankbuck.org/projects-list/

Are you still scrambling to take notes during meetings? There's a better way. Evernote has a built-in AI meeting notetaker that records, transcribes, and summarizes every meeting for you. No extra app. No extra cost. It's already included in all Evernote plans. I walk through the whole setup in my latest video: how to link your note to your calendar, record the meeting, get a verbatim tran...

Are you using Evernote the same way you were five years ago? Most of us settle into a routine with the tools we love and miss the updates that come along. But Evernote's note editor has some features worth knowing about, and a few of them are brand new. Here's a quick rundown: Collapsible headers let you fold sections of a long note so only the top-level headings are visible. This is great...

Summer is almost here, and I want to ask you something: What are you actually going to do with it? All year long, we say, "When things slow down, I'll finally..." Here's your chance. ☀️ https://frankbuck.org/productive-summer/ #SummerProductivity #TimeManagement #SummerGoals

School's out, and the paper piles are in. 📚Every June, parents face the same overwhelming moment: the backpack lands on the floor, and suddenly there's a mountain of papers, artwork, and notebooks with nowhere to go. Here's the good news. You don't need a complicated system to deal with it. You need a simple one. 👉 Read the full post here: https://frankbuck.org/paper-clutter/

Use your Evernote organization system to track subscriptions, document conversations, and get money back. One note saved me $196. For more, visit the blog post: https://frankbuck.org/evernote-documentation/

Beware of the copyright infringement scam targeting content creators. Learn what fake legal emails look like and how to protect yourself today. For more, visit the blog post: https://frankbuck.org/copyright-scam/

Is your family life busy? The kids are involved in so many activities, and it's just hard to keep up with it all. My guest today feels your pain, and as an educator, has seen first-hand so many times. Amy Briggs is the founder of Aviva. Aviva is an AI-powered scheduling assistant, designed specifically to relieve parents from endless to-do lists so they can focus on what matters most: connecti...

Learn how to use AI to transform outdated content, minimize rework, and address viewer questions when updating YouTube videos. For more, visit the blog post: https://frankbuck.org/ai-video-remake/ 0:00 Intro1:00 The good video from a year ago1:55 Two issues2:15 The question3:15 The video from last week to watch3:40 The problem4:10 Downloading a YouTube video transcript 5:00 Use of GPT to cleanup t...

School calendar creation can be much easier with this method. Start with a spreadsheet. Export to CSV and import into Google Calendar. For much more, visit the blog post: https://frankbuck.org/school-calendar-creation/ Chapters:0:00 Intro 1:40 Message from a reader2:35 The answer2:50 Creating the spreadsheet3:50 Brainstorm your events4:10 Application for businesses other than education4:25 Saving...

🎓 Principals and teachers: Still hand-writing award certificates? There's a better way! This simple mail merge trick cuts certificate prep time by 90%. Instead of typing "Perfect Attendance" 50 times, type it once and let technology do the rest.✅ Use blank certificates instead of expensive pre-printed ones✅ Copy student data from your existing reports✅ Let Excel and Word handle t...